London Calling
by KalKir
Summary: As a graduate from Harvard University and coming from a traditional Asian family background, Alex Lee throws off the shackles of tradition and family desires to seek out a new life of his own. Little did he know that working as a intern in the fashion industry would lead him to London and open the door to many things. This including magic. Pairing: OC/Gabrielle D.
1. Chapter 1 - London Bound

**DISCLAIMER:** The story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K Rowling, and various publishers including but not limited to Warner Bros., Scholastic Books, etc. This story is intended as a fan made story and no money is being made. No trademark and copyright infringement is intended.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This is a story of a young man by the name of Alex Lee who freed himself from the shackles that bound him to his "fate" that his parents geared him towards. He found a way to escape and start living his life the way he wanted to… well as much as he tried though as the industry he was working at was not something he originally desired to work at. However, it was due to working at a simple internship that opened many doors to him, one of them, leading to the world of magic.

This was supposed to be a short story (no more than 5,000 words maximum). However, as I was writing, I kept on going and going and realized that this story cannot be finished in one short. I am currently working on my fourth chapter as I write this and have to say I really did not expect it to be this long. However, despite it being four chapters long, I do not think that this will run past ten chapters max (though I can be wrong again, but I am trying to keep it under ten chapters if possible). It was supposed to be a story to help me stay away from the main one that I am writing (Albus Potter and the House of Frost). Yet it seems like the main story was put to the back burner a bit.

This also happens to be a story that I wrote right recently after all the hectic stuff this past weekend and week. Since I have some down time, I am going to see how things go. I have summer classes starting up again soon so will see how much I get done before the slow posting happens again.

Also wanted to give a heads up, while I do proof read my works before posting, I still have errors and etc. I am mainly doing this on my free time and actually do not have people proofing this before I post. So sorry for any mistakes. I am not a master of English or writing. I am just a person who has an idea or two and just wanting to share it with others.

Also giving early warning notice. This story will be rated M due to partial/full nudity, sexual content (some very brief moments and possible in depth details later in story), choice languages, and etc.

But yeah I know you do not want to read any more of my rabbling so here is the story. Hope you all enjoy.

Word Count (approx.) – 4,989

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 **Chapter 1 – London Calling**

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A young Korean-American man by the name of Alex Lee stood outside of the Heathrow International Airport with a nervous expression on his face. So far, his life had been hectic without him being in full control of his life. While he struck gold recently, he wondered how long his new found luck would run.

He was what many would call a genius though he beg to disagree. At the young age of ten, he was already taking high school level courses and applied for to be admitted for Harvard University at the age of fourteen. However, all this was not due to him being a genius but rather his strict parents who kept nagging at him to keep studying and do whatever they wanted him to do. There was never a chance for him to do what he truly wanted to do. One day, he stated he wanted to be a historian which promptly got him punished for desiring a job that his parents thought was "beneath them." To them, a historian never made enough money if they ever made any at all. They never (in their opinion) contributed much to society and was in a sense a waste. So when he deviated from the goals set for him, his parents were sure to quickly set him back on course with a rod forcing him to abandon anything he was truly interested in himself. Thus, he thought his intelligence was due to his parents pushing him.

By the time he entered Harvard, he knew how to decently play two musical instruments (piano and violin), was part of the student body council, played on the varsity tennis team, and even studied and learned the basics of several other languages other than Korean and English. He specifically chose Harvard since he would be able to avoid his parents by living somewhere far away while going to a prestigious school that his parents would approve of. Ever since he enrolled there, he was able to finish his remaining General Ed. Classes early. Also by taking summer courses and quite a few independent study courses, triple majoring in International Business, Business Management, and Pre-Law while minoring in Mathematics and Foreign Language was possible for him within the four years he studied there. While these courses were ones his parents told him to take, he was able to sneak in a minor in History as well.

Alex excelled at his work and studies but never felt any true desire to do anything. During that time at Harvard, one of his professors, Professor Schmidt, noticed the lack of goal or direction coming from Alex and took him under his wing. The professor was determined that if the child would have no motivation in his field of study, perhaps by having him actually do something with what he is learning would help find something he was passionate about.

This led to Alex accepting an internship at the recommendation from his professor. The internship was with an international fashion business that was owned by a friend of the professor. They were expanding into the U.S. and they were just opening up a new office in New York. Due to the expansion, they were looking for some interns who may eventually go full time on the business and operations side. Alex would have declined the job due to it being a fashion company had the professor not explain what perks were available. The internship was only to be on weekends and only on the few weekdays that he was available. It also provided food and lodging expenses so Alex could live close to work during the days he needed to be at work. Plus he was being given a salary of $4,000 per month. Benefits already included as well. This would have be highly suspicious for Alex since there was no job that would provide full benefits, all those perks, and provide a monthly salary (not hourly salary) at that amount for a part-time job especially an internship. However, his professor insisted that the offer was genuine and so he did take the offer cautiously.

The office he worked for was a fashion branch office of the Delacour Group, a large private conglomerate originating in France. Despite that, Alex had a great experience, quickly moving up the ladder and constantly having his "internship" position change. In a sense, he was merely an intern in name only but was treated like a full time staff. His fellow co-workers were all nice and friendly, his supervisors were caring. While he did not care much about fashion, he had to admit that working here would not be a bad idea once he graduates much to the delight of his supervisors. When he told his family that he would continue to remain in New York to work after graduation, his parents were furious. They expected him to study, come back and find a job in Los Angeles, meet a nice Korean girl to marry to and be close to the family… the whole typical traditional family first ideology.

During the last few months before his graduation, Alex argued back and forth with his parents over the phone. He argued stating that he wanted to just have a little time on his own and work in New York and he would come back or try and find a way to have the company set up a new office in a few years in Los Angeles if possible. He however would not meet with the girl that his parents wanted to arrange his marriage to. His parents would have none of that stating that he must obey them since he was their son regardless of him being eighteen years old. They blew up even more when they heard that he spent some time getting a minor in History, a complete waste of time in their opinion. In the last phone call with them, his parents gave him an ultimatum. He either came home immediately after graduating, or he would be disowned. Snorting at the ridiculous, unreasonable, and illogical thinking of his parents, Alex hung up the phone.

June arrived and he walked the aisle and accepted his diploma. While his family did not show up to his graduation, his friends, co-workers, and supervisors from work came to show their support. They celebrated with Alex and for once, Alex felt grateful for having people who truly cared and genuinely took pride in his success. As the came to a close, the branch manager told him to come to work the following day and they would talk about his full-time employment then.

The next morning, Alex sat across from his branch manager, Mr. Leroy, who was looking over some documents and his folder.

"How are you feeling?" his boss asked grinning.

Alex smiled back, "No hangovers if you are asking, sir. For once, I am feeling great."

Mr. Leroy smiled back at him, "Good, good. Now let us get down to business then."

His boss opened up his folder and looked through for a moment before speaking. "You finally graduated from Harvard with a Summa Cum Laude, congratulations on that. And I must once again say I am proud of you."

"Thank you, Mr. Leroy."

"I got in touch with the head and we believe that you are ready..."

Alex mentally crossed his fingers. He was hinted a few times that he had a great chance of taking the assistant branch manager position with the former holder, Robin, resigning. While he may be the youngest employee there, he had a few years of experience and knew the company quite well. He outperformed beyond what the company expected even helping others out whenever he had time. _Assistant Branch Manager here I come!_

"…to transfer to our London location."

 _... WHAT?!_

Alex had a stunned look on his face. His dream was already falling to piece.

"Um, Alex? Are you alright?" Mr. Leroy asked.

"Uh, I think so. Could you say that again? I could have sworn you said I would be transferring to the London headquarters."

"You are."

Alex suddenly stood up protesting, "But, sir! I was hoping to stay here with you! Forgive me for my arrogance but I was expecting to take over Robin's jo-"

Mr. Leroy raised his hand cutting off any more from Alex.

"This is coming from the CEO directly, Alex. According to them, they want you to go there and help out there, Alex. Meaning you would definitely be a manager there."

Alex stared at his boss shocked before slumping onto his seat.

"I-I… Uh…"

Mr. Leroy laughed chuckled seeing his reaction, "I know a bit of a shock, right?"

"How, sir? The London branch is much larger than New York. In fact, it is the main headquarter for the United Kingdom! To be in such an office and focusing on the London area is a lot. Why select me?"

Mr. Leroy leaned back with a warm smile.

"Well, old Jones (the former Branch Manager) and a few of his colleagues actually retired recently and they were looking for someone to cover his position. The Assistant Branch Manager was also sacked a few days later for their incompetence. Jones did not want to come out of retirement and the other Branch Managers and their assistants do not wish to move mainly due to family reasons. Also..."

Mr. Leroy pulled out a document and passed it to Alex.

"The CEO stated that considering how well you were doing and being the only person who is the closest to qualify for the position and be able to move at the shortest notice possible. Not to mention that you obtaining a Summa Cum Laude cinched the deal."

Alex thought about the new position.

"Do you think I qualify?"

Mr. Leroy looked at him directly, "Truthfully, No, I do not think you are ready."

A little deflated he nodded to himself as he expected that.

"However, I think we all have to start somewhere. And this can be a great chance to prove yourself and everyone just how much we underestimated you," Mr. Leroy continued surprising Alex.

Eventually Alex agreed to the transfer and Mr. Leroy stated that more information including the new benefits and salary would be explained when the CEO met with him.

"Wait, I am going to see the CEO?"

Mr. Leroy shrugged, his eyes twinkling a bit with mischief.

"Oh yes. After all, you have been selected by the CEO personally."

Alex packed up his belonging and spent the remainder of the day celebrating a second time with everyone from the office. Everyone were all sad that he was going to leave them, but proud that he was given this chance. Once packed and helping others finish up their work, everyone offered to help him pack his belongings at his apartment over the next few days as he prepared to leave.

A few days later, with most of his stuff stored away at a local storage unit or given away to others and saying goodbye to everyone, Alex flew off to London.

Now, Alex stood outside the Heathrow Airport with his suitcase smiling as he recalled the memories he made and the people who took him in who treated him like family unlike his actual family. He was going to miss them, but now his new life starts. And so far, with the promotion and First Class ride across the Atlantic to here, it was a very good start indeed.

"Mr. Lee?" a voice asked.

"Yes?"

Alex looked up and saw a man dressed in a black suit standing next to a luxurious limo.

"My name is Robert, I am instructed to take you the office first. Please come with me."

Alex got into the back of the limo as the limo driver stowed his luggage in the trunk. The ride was uneventful and Alex took a short nap. While he was excited about being the next Branch Manager, he was not thrilled that it was in London. He remembered some students complaining that some things were different compared to the U.S. and they had difficulty adjusting. Hopefully, he would not have to face that too much himself.

Eventually the limo arrive in front of a large building that stood easily over twenty-five stories tall. As soon as the car came to a halt right at the front, several people came rushing out and assisted him in, bringing his belongings behind him. While Alex was a little overwhelmed by this level of service, he thanked everyone as they ushered him inside.

A beautiful with blonde hair lady around her middle years approached him he hand extended smiling. Alex shock hands with her smiling back.

"Monsieur Lee, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Allison Mercier. I am the Executive Assistant to the CEO. Please, do not worry about your luggage, we will be holding it for you for now. Please come this way."

Alex followed Allison to the lift and went up.

"We are pleased to have you here with us, Monsieur Lee."

"Please, call me Alex."

Allison smiled, "Very well, Alex. Is there any questions you have?"

"Yes, in fact I do have a few. I apologize for my ignorance, may I inquire about the CEO? I do know that the CEO is Apolline Delacour, however, there has been little information in regards to her."

Allison laughed a bit, "I completely understand. Madame Delacour actually does lead a rather private life, thus it would be rather difficult to know much about her. I would recommend you find out personally, would make things easier for you. Anything else?"

Alex nodded, "Would you happen to know why me?"

Allison shook her head, "Again that would be up to Madame Delacour to say."

Alex sighed a bit to the amusement of Allison.

"The London branch is one of the oldest branch of the Delacour Group. It also happens to be one of the largest branches. What you see here is actually the new building that was designed and built a few years ago. The original office was located a few blocks down the street which was too cramped for us."

They reached the top of the floor which revealed a large reception area.

"The building itself is thirty-three floors in total. The first thirty floors are company space and the thirty-first floor is the head office."

Alex looked at her as they crossed the room, "And the top floors?"

"You will see."

Alex looked around the reception room once more. It was a large room that was bigger than his families ground floor combined. While his family lived in a large 4 bedroom 3 bathroom house that was two stories tall, the reception room dwarfed it. Turning around he saw there were the three elevators behind with the number 31 on above them. To both sides were fireplaces and sitting areas and what seemed to be doors leading to washrooms. Looking in front of him lay a marble desk for the receptionist that was large enough for three receptionists, but only showing one seat. In fact, when he made a closer inspection he realized that the walls and furniture were made of white marble with beautiful quality wood decorated with shining bits of metal made to look like silver.

The door at the end that they reached to was a large double door made of solid wood. Beautiful yet complicated patterns that look like various symbols designed the door. Seeing that this door to be made of solid wood and it being so large, Alex was surprise when Allison opened the door with ease.

She motioned him to wait for a moment and disappeared through the door closing it behind her. After a few moments, she came back out.

"Madame Delacour is ready to see you now."

Allison led Alex in. Alex was brought into a large room. At the end of the hall looked to be another door to his left was clearly the board room. Looking to the right, he saw a figure sitting at the largest office space he ever seen. The lady stood from her seat and began to walk towards Alex as he made his way towards her.

"Ah, Monsieur Lee. It is a pleasure to finally meet with you." She said with a slight French accent as she shook his hand.

"My name is Apolline Delacour, CEO of this company. Would you please take a seat?" She motioned towards another direction that looked like a living room at another area.

Alex sat opposite of his CEO. She was a beautiful lady who carried her age really well. Despite the fact that he knew she had a family and considering how long she he heard she led the company, he expected her to at least be in her middle ages, but she did not look to be a day over thirty-five.

"I hope you enjoyed your flight here."

"Yes, I have."

For roughly an hour they both exchanged pleasantries and got to know about each other a bit. Apolline Delacour was originally from France and had two daughters, the oldest just recently married to a family friend while the younger is still in school. He also learned that the family was invested in many things other than just fashion. They had their hands in entertainment, cruise lines, resorts, malls, wineries, and more. Despite the overwhelming information and actually hearing first-hand about it, Alex stood firm trying to digest all the information quickly.

Eventually they went over the position and the reason why he was selected. While he may have been chosen, Alex learned that he was in a sense still on probation as this was a huge jump in promotion and the position was not even for a smaller branch but one of the larger branches of the company. He would be on a year probation and see if he can fill the empty position, if not, Apolline stated that they should have someone to replace him and he could be moved elsewhere within the company.

Determined to keep the rare opportunity he just got, Alex agreed to do his best. Smiling at his answer, Apolline pulled out a folder and pulled out some documents for Alex to go over and sign. When the CEO pulled out the folder, he was shocked. He did not notice her carrying a folder to where they were seated but there it was. In fact, it was his employment folder.

Shaking his head from the thought, he went over the information and froze for a moment.

"Uh..."

"Yes, Monsieur Lee?"

"I just want to clarify… I thought I was going to be the Branch Manager for the London location?"

"You were," she replied.

"Were?" He asked.

"Were," she confirmed.

"So when this stated that I am the Regional Executive Director for all of Britain, not just London. That is correct?"

"Indeed."

"I do hope you understand that I am only eighteen years old, Madame. And I just recently came straight from Harvard," he began.

Apolline waved her hand cutting him off.

"Truthfully you were only supposed to be the Branch Manager for London for one of our divisions and not be in charge of the entire region. However, there are two reasons why we are offering you the position. First off, you have been familiar with the New York office and joined a little after a year since it was established. While your position was merely titled as an intern, you have been one of the few who have been at the branch the longest and helped to develop it under Monsieur Leroy's care. Secondly, you can highly recommended as a pupil from my good friend Professor Schmidt. The fact that you graduated with three degrees and several concentrations with a Summa Cum Laude in four years while working is a feat in itself. Third, most of the personnel that are qualified desire to not move due to family or personal reasons. Finally, we need a new fresh perspective, someone who can revitalize the branch and thus need someone new rather than someone who would stick to the course."

Alex thought about it for a moment.

"So you are in a sense taking a gamble with me?"

"Oui." she replied.

"The British region has been developing nicely, however, the last few years has shown stagnant progress. We wish to press on with the development and sales in the area. Thus, we would like you to lead us in this endeavor. Also seeing how smartly you are dressed, I believe that you would have no issues with leading in this position even though it is for fashion."

Alex chuckled at that, "Believe me, Madame. That should be credited to Mr. Leroy. Had it not been for him, I would probably be still wearing a baggy sweater and some sweatpants and maybe sandals."

Apolline eyes widened with mild horror, "I will have to see to Mr. Leroy getting a raise. Nobody should be wearing such an atrocious outfit."

He thought about that for a moment and nodded remembering how hilarious it was when he first walked in for work. Mr. Leroy looked completely disgusted and actually dragged him around to get some proper attire. While he did not care much about fashion, he decided it was probably better to at least look nice and started shopping a bit despite crying over the price tags on some of the clothing he bought. He smiled a bit and began to resume reading the rest before stopping again for another question.

"Madame. I am not familiar with this symbol. Is that supposed to be English Pound or U.S. Dollars?" he asked as he pointed to the strange symbol next to his salary.

Apolline eyes looked confused for a moment. "Galleons, Monsieur. Is that not enough? I do apologize I wished to negotiate with you directly instead of having my people do it. If the figure is too lo-"

Alex shook his head, "Apologies, Madame. It is just I have not heard of Galleons before."

Apolline eyes widened in realization for a moment and suddenly she barked out in French. While he understood French quite well, he acted as if he did not understand it that well and pretend to ignore what was being said.

Allison!

Allison rushed in immediately and came up to Madame Delacour.

Yes, Madame?

I accidently put Galleons here instead of converting it to Pounds. Please help me! I forgot that muggles do not use Galleons!

Allison excused herself for a moment with the document and had her back to both of them muttering a bit. A few seconds later, she turned around and presented the documents.

All fixed!

Thank you. Would you be able to take the documents once he signs it to HR.

Allison nodded and took a seat next to her.

Alex looked over the document once more and noticed the figures had changed as well as the amount into British Pounds.

"Um… I believe this will do nicely," he stated as he saw the large sum.

He read the rest of the benefits which were beyond excellent. He was only eighteen years old and he was making more than his father… actually more than his entire family ever made in a year.

He realized that Apolline clearly did not have a grasp of money concept as she literally offered him nearly double of what someone his position would have. Sure he was in charge of the British region and not just London. However, he was not going to complain about the perks and amount.

Seeing that everything was beyond satisfactory, he signed the document and handed the documents back to them.

Allison took the documents reviewed it once more before excusing herself and walking out.

"Now, about your living arrangements. We have your living area prepared for you. If you would like to see?" she asked.

"If you have something available for me that would be wonderful," Alex replied. "I was thinking of renting out a flat."

"Oh, no! We could not let you do that! Here come with me." Apolline led him to the door that was at the back of the room. Once opened it revealed a set of beautiful stairs leading further up to the next floor leading to a two-story penthouse.

It was a beautiful place with a lovely entrance with a sizable fireplace placed to warm guests as they entered. They went further into what was a very large and spacious living room that had many large comfy sofas and a giant flat screen TV against one side of the wall with two large sliding doors on either side of the TV leading out to a large balcony with a fire pit, grill, outdoor bar, comfy seating everything, complete with a giant Jacuzzi. On the other side opposite of the balcony was a large open concept kitchen with a full island and bar. A large dining table that would easily fit more than a dozen guests was located in the dining room. The whole open concept design made the place look a lot bigger as well which would allow traffic to come and go. On the other side of the living room was another entrance for the three elevators with a fireplace next to that entrance as well. In short, two entrances from different directions with stairs from both sides leading up and meeting at the top. Upstairs was a large family room in the middle with some sofas and shelves.

On the side towards the balcony was a large set of double doors that opened up to an expansive master bedroom. In the center was ridiculously large bed that was at least twelve feet in length and more than fourteen feet wide. On both sides of the bed were two glass doors that open up to a smaller private balcony. On right side of the bed was a large walk in closet. Next to it was a bathroom with a large vanity with several sinks. There were other bathroom necessities all there but the ones he noticed where the shower and the bathtub. Nearby was a large walk in shower that was large enough to fit over ten people easily with the water pouring down from the ceiling. Next to the show was a large bath tub that would fit at least half a dozen people comfortably with tinted windows that looked out to a lovely view. There were automatic curtains as well that allowed you to open and close should you wish to block out the sun or wish privacy. The same type of curtain were also throughout the house as well.

On walking back out the left side of the bed room was a private study with bookshelves lining up along the wall. A small private paradise for any bookworm with comfortable chairs and sofas scattered about allowing the person to read anywhere at their leisure. There was even a small kitchen and bar in the corner as well.

On the other side were four spacious guest rooms with a king size bed in each room. They each had a small private bathroom and balcony as well. There were another two more room which looked like rooms for up to four house staff. Should he wish to hire, the company was willing to pay for the four staff as long as he is able to find someone who would be able to fill the position. Apolline recommended at least one maid and a chef if able.

After Apolline gave him the tour of the place she looked at him expectantly.

"This was the main living quarters for the previous director and his family, so there is some space. Well, what do you think?" she asked her eyes dancing with merriment.

"Ah..," Alex replied.

"I take it that you approve, Monsieur Lee."

He slowly nodded, slightly dumbfounded by his new luck and good fortune.

"Fantastic! Just to remind you we do have a personal garage for you as well. We do have a driver available for you, but please understand he is only to assist you during business hours. You will have a regular maintenance and cleaning staff as well that will come by the check on the place. Other than that," she hands him the keys to the place. "You are all set! Welcome abroad!"

Alex smiled and shook her hand.

"Thank you Madame Delacour, and please call me Alex."

She smiled and nodded.

"Then please call me, Apolline."

"Thank you, Apolline."

"If there is nothing else left, I will take my leave and allow you to enjoy the rest of the evening. Please keep in mind that you are not expected to start work until the two weeks from now. However, feel free to look about as you may want to get a head start."

With that she left the penthouse leaving Alex standing by himself in a ridiculous large home.

 _Well… better get some sleep and get ready._ He thought while heading towards the master bedroom once more.

He washed up and changed into his pajamas and looked into the mirror. Who would have thought that an eighteen year old Asian kid who is just about 5'8" with slightly messy dark hair would get this job? He smiled at himself happy about his luck and hoped his luck would continue and last.

As he got to bed, he promptly fell asleep thinking of the good fortune he had and what he could do to help ensure that this would not be just something that would last a year. Although he may not be into fashion, with the perks and amount he is getting paid, he is willing to dedicate his himself in this new field. He just needs to figure out what his next step is.

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 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This chapter was mainly to set the stage with the story. Hopefully it is enjoyable. I originally had this as a shorter story and decided to add a little more and divide up the sections a bit instead so that more details and information is available. Thank you again for taking the time to read. Reviews are also appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2 - New Year, New Girl

**DISCLAIMER:** The story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K Rowling, and various publishers including but not limited to Warner Bros., Scholastic Books, etc. This story is intended as a fan made story and no money is being made. No trademark and copyright infringement is intended.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So chapter 1 was mainly setting up Alex's new life in London, chapter 2 will be bringing the details about his life in London now. This chapter will also be introducing quite a few new characters as well.

Also giving early warning notice again. This story will be rated M due to partial/full nudity, sexual content (some very brief moments and possible in depth details later in story), choice languages, and etc.

Hope you all enjoy.

Word Count (approx.) – 6,731

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – New Year, New Girl**

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It had been a full year since Alex lived in London as the Executive Director. With the day almost over, Alex leaned back into his chair in his office relaxing a bit. Earlier this Thursday morning he was notified that he passed with flying colors on his evaluation and received another substantial sum in raise with his probation being officially over and even got an additional bonus to boot. Overall life was amazing.

He has expected to face lots of trouble but with a staff that was willing to try out some of the crazy ideas he had and finding them successful, he had a group of people working for him who trusted him.

Within the past year, many things occurred to him and he met many people.

He first met his assistant Katarina Delattre. She was with the company for two years before working for him, originally starting out as an intern before moving up as his executive assistant. She graduated from a school called Beauxbatons, apparently they focused at lot on fashion and class. While it was not a school that he was familiar of, he expected it was one of the many fashion schools that were in France. She graduated from her school a year before him and she was doing a superb job. He remembered the time when he first met her, he thought she was a model who got lost.

She wore a black one piece dress that stopped a few inches above her knees. From the top, it looked like a short sleeved button up blouse, but it was actually a full on one piece. She wore a silver belt with her accessories matching her attire wearing black heels to match the outfit with her shoulder length light brown soft wavy hair framing her face. She was pretty and Alex confessed to her that he thought she was one of the models for the company, which she laughed off with good nature, though she did thank him for the compliment. Despite their youth, two young adults tackled various projects together with a lot of success much to the surprise of many within the company.

With her help and taking a bit of risk, Alex was able surpass the projected results by a fairly wide margin. Alex had come to rely on Katarina on a lot of things that eventually surpassed a professional level, leading to a strong friendship between the two. As they just finished up a major project, he thanked her and told her to take the week off and visit her family and her boyfriend, providing her with a bonus as well so that she could truly relax and enjoy her time off. Considering what she did to help him in his success, she deserved it.

After that he met several others from the company including the maid and the chef. The chef was actually a student of Gordan Ramsay and came to him with a letter of recommendation from Gordan himself. Kevin Walker, a sandy haired man in his late thirties with a personality of that of an excited child, cooked meals for him whenever he wished and with Alex's urging tried out various new dishes. While some experiments were awful, it was fun to try Kevin's weekly "Mystery Dish." Despite the risks of the once in a while horrible or edible dish, Kevin came up with some dish ideas that were truly phenomenal. Although he did offer Kevin one of the rooms meant for the staff, Kevin declined stating that he had a family he needed to take care of and would arrive on a on call basis other than the weekly "Mystery Dish."

While Kevin was not always able to provide meals all the time, he sometimes made something that would last or could be warmed up and would leave it for Alex to eat. Of course there had been the odd time or two where Alex had to make due by ransacking the fridge and pantries. While it may not be the most appetizing meal when he makes them, it was still edible. When Kevin found out about Alex's poor attempts at prepping meals, he began to teach him a bit whenever they both had time off from their schedule. It was rather funny though since Kevin's teaching method was the complete opposite of Gordon Ramsay's style of teaching.

His maid Sienna Myers was a mystery altogether when he hired her. She applied to work for him as a live in maid at the age of seventeen. She graduated from a school somewhere around Scotland and was looking for job when she noticed this position. She begged him to give her the job and even offered to work the first two week for free just to prove that she could do the job. After her two week evaluation and seeing that there was not even a speck of dust anywhere, Alex hired her on the spot without negotiating on the price. He later realized that Apolline was probably setting the salary for his staff as well since the salaries offered for his personal staff had been ridiculous like his. If Apolline was not going to complain and the company was still making profit, Alex was not going to complain. Plus it did not hurt to have a pretty girl living in the house with him.

While he appreciated having Sienna work as a live in maid, it was distracting at times. He told her she was allowed to relax and treat the home like her own, but was not allowed to bring guests which she was fine with. But that meant she walked about at times in just her shorts and an oversized shirt at times which made it seem like she was not really wearing any pants underneath. While she has her work attire, since she also lives there and acts more like a roommate, she does not even bother with it and just cleans the place without her work attire on. It does not help that the dark-haired vixen loved to flirt as well bringing about some restless nights for him.

Needless to say, after a few months of living together, they did find some other activities to enjoy together. While they did not commit to each other in a relationship, they did sleep with each other on occasion with them feeling naked and sated while sprawled out on his massive bed. During the times they were not being intimate with each other, or when she was working, he found her reading through some odd books, one of them titled _Transfiguration: Introduction to Fashion_. When he asked her about that, she immediately closed the book and tell him that since she is working for him, she might as well read about things in regards to fashion. She would not let him read any of the books she brought with her and would keep them locked in a chest in her room when she was not reading them. As much as he would like to have read those books, he would not stoop low to violate someone's privacy.

Apolline eventually found replacements for the vacant positions in the London and New York offices and Alex continued to manage the London branch personally. His Assistant Director was a man named Eddy in his forties who had a true passion in his work. He was a hands on approach type of guy and was found running all over the place much to his amusement. This helped Alex considerably as Eddy was more than willing to take on extra tasks when needed.

Alex stretched for a bit as he took a break from his work and continued to recall things. There were many people he met, new friends made. He still kept in touch with the New York branch, who were all surprised about the rather large jump. Mr. Leroy over simply overjoyed that his "apprentice" was on the fast track to success. However, despite the success, keeping in touch with his old team, hanging out with his new friends and hosting parties at his place (which always ended in a blast and ended with many people staying the night over), and having a great sex life with Sienna and a few other friends and models (sometimes with both at the same time), for some reason Alex felt empty.

Sure he had many partners and gone to various outings. He befriended many of his business partners, but he never really found someone to be in a committed relationship. There were some girls who wanted to be in one with him, but all of them did not connect beyond the physical level with him.

As a young and very successful businessman who was single, Alex was sought out as a potential marriage prospect for many girls. Some of his business partners even tried to introduce him to their daughters in hopes of a good match only to have nothing come of it. While he became friends with some of them, he did not go beyond the friendship with them.

He looked at his clock on the computer.

7:12pm

He sighed and spend a few more minutes to finish up his report and forwarded it to his boss in France. He then powered off his laptop and went upstairs to his penthouse.

Kevin was in the kitchen finishing the last touches for dinner while chatting animatedly with Sienna who was sitting at the bar seat. He treated he like his favorite niece and they got along well.

"Alex! Welcome back!" Kevin called out when he noticed him walk into the living room.

Sienna jumped out from the bar seat that she occupied and gave him a hug.

"Hey, Kevin. Hi, Sienna." Alex greeted. "How are the kids?"

Kevin smiled as he brought the plates to the dining room.

"They are doing well. Andrew is back from school and is enjoying the summer. Lily is feeling better but misses her Uncle Alex. Sally is watching over her now."

Kevin was happily married to his wife, Sally, and had two children Andrew who was twelve and Lily who was nine. Every once in a while Kevin would bring the kids to the penthouse and Alex would let them play. While Andrew was gone to a boarding school in Scotland, Lily came over after school whenever her father picked her up from school. During those times, Alex would sometimes take Lily around the company showing her what he did and meet new people. When two of his senior designers got wind of this, they ambushed the two and made outfits in their spare time. So as the year went by Alex and Lily (and sometimes Kevin when he could be convinced) had some matching outfits, which Lily enjoyed. So with Alex's introduction, Lily had access to the latest fashion and was the envy of many girls. Sadly, a few days ago she came down with a fever and was resting at home.

"Hopefully she feel better soon. I miss having her run about causing chaos."

"Alex? Missing little Lily?" Kevin mimed fainting to Alex and Sienna's laughter. Alex always teased Lily that she caused too much trouble while at work and she usually sticks her tongue out and continue to have fun running about.

Alex and Sienna sat down and started eating their dinner. It was one of his "Mystery Dish" tonight and Sienna thought it was fun to try out his new creations and enjoyed them. Tonight though was actually pretty tasty. It Kevin was trying to go for a tropical themed dinner and actually use various citrus juices to accent the taste. While they all agreed it may not be the tastiest of his dishes, it was still a fun and enjoyable one.

Once dinner was finished, Kevin then got up and bid the two good night and left as the Alex and Sienna put the dishes away.

"Long day I take it?" Sienna asked.

Alex nodded as he washed the dishes and left them on the drying rack.

"Everything went well, just been busy."

Sienna come behind him leaning against him as she put her arms around him.

"Ready to head to bed?"

"Sorry, not tonight," he replied as he finished placing the last dish away and turning to face her.

She raised her eyebrows a bit from his reply and looked at him carefully and nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, you need your sleep. I will see you in the morning," she gave him a hug and headed off to her room.

Alex stood in the kitchen for what seemed like a few minutes. Eventually he head back to his room and took a shower feeling the water run down his body washing away the hard work of today. Eventually, he got out and dried himself and headed off to bed.

Habit made him wake up at 6:00AM. He was planning on getting out of bed to get ready for the day when suddenly he stopped with a thought coming to mind.

 _You know what, I think I will just take the day off and head out._

He called Eddy and notified to him that he was taking the day off. Eddy chastised him saying that he needed more than that and told him to take two days off. Alex rarely took time off and whenever he did, it always became business related in the end.

"And I do not want to see your face in the office for the next forty-eight hours!"

"So I can't come back to my apartment then?" Alex retorted.

"Spend the night at a hotel or somewhere! You spend way too much time here!" with that Eddy hung up the phone on Alex. While being his boss, anyone in Alex's position would have been offended. However, he merely chuckled and slowly got ready for the day.

Eddy knew that he could get away with talking back to him and they both have a very great partnership. He could count on Alex to not be a slacker and Alex in return could count on Eddy to take over whenever needed. Their relationship with each other was with great respect towards each other and it only continued to grow.

With that, Alex called Kevin and left a message to Kevin stating that he would be out for the next two days.

He then washed up and went over to his closet, contemplating on what to wear. He decided to not dress up this time and be a bit more casual. He chose some jeans and picked a white form fitting shirt and a dark jacket to go with the outfit. He had to admit that he looked better than he did a year ago. After starting work, one of the things he did was head to the gym on a regular basis and started working out, eventually that got him to get a nice lean body that even had a few people asking him to take the time out from his normal work and also model a bit, which he only did once recently. Feeling quite confident of himself and growing another inch or two as well, he had to say he looked pretty great.

"You look great," said a voice from behind him. "Got a date?"

Sienna leaned against the doorframe in her nightgown admiring him.

"No, just taking the today and tomorrow off," he replied. "Eddy says he kicking me out."

She smiled and pushed off from the doorframe.

"Maybe I should visit my mom while you are away."

Alex smiled.

"You do that. I think we all need to go out and get some fresh air anyways."

Sienna turned back and headed towards her room.

"I'll lock up so head on out whenever you want."

"Alright," he called back. "I'm heading out now."

He picked out some Suede Oxford and put them on and once getting his wallet, his Bulgari watch, and other necessities, headed out to the elevator around 7:00AM. Once the elevator arrived he got in and selected the garage level. As he arrive at the garage level the door opened and he walked out toward a man standing on in a booth.

"Good morning, Mr. Lee."

"Morning, Jake."

"Pleasure drive, sir?" Jake asked.

"Yes," he replied.

Jake called in on his radio and a few moments later, another guy drives up in a convertible Bentley. Alex thanks the guys and gets in the car and drives out of the garage.

Alex drove out for a bit and came across a lovely diner. He parked at a nearby parking lot and walked over to the diner. He ordered some breakfast and enjoyed the morning a bit looking out every once in a while watching the people passing by. The neighborhood was a fairly quiet one. While there are some people bustling about, there were actually not that many cars. He noticed a particularly run down building across the street with a sign that says _The Leaky Cauldron_. He looked in slight dismay at the condition of the building and shook his head and went back to finishing his meal.

He called for the waitress and paid for his breakfast, leaving behind a generous tip and head out. He looked around the see what was available around the area noticing some of the people passing by. Suddenly, he noticed a flash of bright blonde hair appearing as if out of nowhere and walking down the street. It was a young woman who just passed by the strange building. From where he could see, she was quite the looker. She had long flowing blonde hair walked about with an air of confidence around her. She wore a dark kitten heels with a tight form fitting blue jeans and a white loose shirt that flowed with her every movement. While some girls like to wear excessive jewelry, it looked like she went for something a bit simpler. Just a simple necklace and earrings that creates simple beauty without the unnecessary complication of too many accessories. In a sense, this was the style that Alex liked. He never understood why some models had to deck themselves out with some of outfits and accessories that he would have thought to be ridiculous but would never say out loud. Alex stared at her walking by until she turned around the corner and disappear.

He shook his head and decided to head on over to his car and decided may going to the nearby mall would be enjoyable. Once arriving at the mall, he took a look around. He decided to buy some presents and gifts and even asked them to be delivered to his home which the shopkeepers readily agreed. He got a lovely fountain pen from Montblanc for his assistant, Katarina, knowing how much she loved to write. For Kevin, he found a nice set of new kitchen knives. He got Sienna a new laptop remembering how her old one recently died. After all the purchases he grabbed a light lunch and eventually found himself at a bookstore.

At the bookstore, he browsed about selecting a few books that seemed to be interesting. Eventually, he came across a fashion magazine. It was one of the latest fashion magazines, _Next Fashion_ , that his company printed and there was only one copy left. He remembered being notified about having his modeling pictures in this edition and refused to work on it, delegating the work to Eddy that time. Now, curious to see as he did not see the last issue himself he reached out to pick it up only to find another hand reaching out for it.

"Oh, I'm sorry." An accented feminine voice exclaimed the voice's owner withdrawing her hand.

Alex immediately pulled his hand back and gestured.

"Please, take the copy I was merely curious."

He looked at the girl and started a bit. It was the same blonde girl that he saw earlier. Her blue eyes looked back at him sparkling. She was very pretty. Her blonde hair had soft flowing waves that went past her hips. He noticed that while she looked to be around his age, he guessed she was probably younger than him, despite wearing heels, she was just a bit shy from his own height. He began to feel the need to draw closer to her but caught himself and pulled back slightly noticing the girl's eyes widen a bit.

"I am sorry about that. I do not know what came of me."

She looked at him thoughtfully and replied, "That is alright. I am was surprised myself."

She reached out and grabbed the magazine.

"I take it that you like _Next Fashion_ as well?" he asked.

She nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! It is one of my favorites!"

"Glad you enjoy it," Alex replied stuck out his hand. "By the way the name is Alex."

"Gabrielle," the girl replied taking his hand and smiled at him.

 _Gosh she is gorgeous._ Alex thought.

"May I ask where you are from?" Gabrielle asked.

"I was originally from Los Angeles but studied a bit in New York before coming here to work in London," he replied.

"Sounds a bit short," she stated.

"Oh, it is a quite the story," he warned her.

"I have time, particularly if it is amusing," she countered back.

"Then coffee at Costa?" he asked.

"Sounds good," Gabrielle replied.

So the two made their purchases and went over to Costa Coffee (a British coffeehouse). They placed their drinks which Alex paid for despite the mild protest from Gabrielle. When they got their drinks, they found a nice quiet spot in the corner and Alex related his story.

Gabrielle sympathized with Alex when she heard about his parents trying to control his fate. She laughed at how he was thrown into the fashion industry and had slowly come to enjoy the industry itself. She applauded his success in regards to his promotion.

"I am simply impressed," she stated as he finished his tale.

He shrugged, "Truthfully it was the people I met and sheer luck of having to be at the right place at the right time that I am where I am today."

She nodded in agreement.

"And now you are the Executive Director of what company again?"

"Oh, sorry about that," he replied. "The Delacour Group."

Gabrielle eyes opened wide in surprise to which Alex grinned sheepishly.

"I honestly had no idea how large the company was until I came here to London a year ago."

Gabrielle looked at him intently.

"So, you are Alex Lee then?"

Alex raised his eyes in slight surprise.

"Indeed. May I ask how you know Miss -?"

"D-Weasley. Gabrielle Weasley," she hastily replied. "As for how I know, I know of some people in the company and heard of you through them. Although, I am surprised that you would want to purchase a copy of _Next Fashion_ when you are in a sense in charge of it."

Alex noted the slight slip but let it go. After all, if a girl wishes to not tell all and no one is going to be hurt, what is the worry?

"Well Miss Weasley."

"Please call me, Gabrielle."

"Alright, Gabrielle," Alex replied. "I was originally not going to purchase it until I remembered that it was the issue that I have not personally worked on with the team. I have not had a chance to see the final result of the magazine and was rather curious to see myself."

She grinned and pulled out the magazine. "Would you be interested if we share?"

He grimaced and nodded. "Please keep in mind that if I had no control over this issue."

Her grin grew wider. "Is there something in here that you are hoping to not see?"

"I will not say."

She immediately opened the magazine and the two began to look through the pages. After a few minutes they came across a section that caught his attention and he immediately placed both hands over the page with Gabrielle protesting.

"Please," he pleaded. "Just skip the new few pages."

"What are you hiding?" she demanded. Her curiosity growing as she saw from the corner part of the title listed _Rising Exe-._

Eventually he relented and Gabrielle's eyes rose in approval. Alex raised a hand to his face in defeat as she clearly saw the page.

 _Rising Executive Director and the Runway to Success_

 _Alex Lee (19), a new and rising star in the fashion industry…_

The article goes on about his success and it was laid on thick. The article also showed pictures of him in various poses and styles. While Alex was not the best looking guy she seen, she had to admit, Alex looked pretty nice in those pictures.

In one picture, it showed Alex in a business suit leaning against a Ferrari with a sexy smirk with two other models sitting in the car in the background.

"Oh gosh, they added those too," Alex moaned when he took a peek and saw what picture she was looking at.

"I have to admit, these pictures are not that bad," she replied.

"It was horrible." He growled. "I go down to see if I can help them and then they decided to have a photo shoot with me. Ah, that one wasn't bad though."

She looked at the picture that Alex pointed too. It was a picture of Alex playing with a young girl around eight or so in the kitchen with a man in the background in his thirties. She read the caption below the picture.

 _Alex Lee with his chef, Kevin Walker (37) and Kevin's daughter Lily Walker (9)._

She smiled seeing them in matching outfits with happy looks on all three faces.

"She is a spoiled one," Alex commented pointing at the little girl.

They spent a few more minutes look through the magazine with Gabrielle teasing him a bit. Eventually Gabrielle noticed the time and stood up a bit slightly horrified.

Oh gosh! she exclaimed in French.

Alex looked at his watch which read 4:48pm. "I take it you have an appointment later this evening?"

"Y-yes," she replied. "I have an early dinner with my mother and her guests this evening around six this evening at the La Sirene and I am have not gotten ready yet. My dress is still back at my place."

"Formal?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

"Come with me then," he said and took her to a nearby shop.

"Alex, I do not have time for shopping!"

"Do you live close by that you can get ready in thirty minutes?" he asked.

"No." she responded

"Then we might as well try and find something here," he said smiling and pulled her towards a set of dresses.

"Welcome!" the attendant said.

Alex immediately eyed a few dresses looked back at her and back at the dresses and selected a dark blue dress for her to try.

"Here try this one."

She looked at him for a moment of disbelief and took the dress with the attendant following her to assist her. A few minutes later she came out and Alex knew he made a good choice. _Well looks like working in the fashion industry has some uses_. He thought as he mentally chuckled to himself.

After helping various events, Alex developed a good eye on things and looked over her carefully. The dress would most certainly do. It was a sheath/column scoop neck dress that trailed stopping just an inch from the floor. It had a sequins split front that revealed a good portion of her leg showing off some sex appeal. Along one side there was a thin silver line that patterned from the shoulders down the dress adding a simple touch of style. Also on closer inspection, he decided that it went well with her simple accessories and her heels as well.

"Well?" she asked as she turned a bit looking quite surprised at the result.

"Yeah, I'm good," Alex stated nodding in appreciation.

Gabrielle blew a raspberry at Alex causing him to laugh.

"Miss, I think we will take this," Alex called out to the attendant.

"Very well please come this way."

They immediately purchased the dress with Gabrielle still wearing it and put her other clothes in a bag provided by the attendant. He offered to give her a lift to La Sirene which she accepted.

When they arrived to his car she stopped looking momentarily stunned.

"This is your car?"

Yes, he replied in French.

Her eyes grew big as she looked at the car and also noticed him answer back.

Do you speak French? she asked.

A bit, he answered back. I never really had a reason to tell anyone other than using a few simple words here and there.

That is more than a few simple words.

I guess you can say that, he replied grinning.

She stood next to the car momentarily staring at him for a bit. He walked over towards the passenger side and opened the door.

If you will, mademoiselle? he smirked as she stood still another second longer before taking a seat. He carefully closed the door and went over and hopped into the driver seat and started the car. Alex looked at the time.

5:18pm

With the current traffic, he judged that they would be about five to ten minutes early and began to head towards their destination.

So how do you know French? she asked as they drove down the street.

It was one of the languages I learned while I was at Harvard and interning. I did not take an actual course, but figured I might as well learn it.

She looked at him with some admiration.

So how is my accent? he asked.

Honestly? A bit awful, she replied laughing as his upset expression. You are trying too hard, you need to let it flow more naturally.

Alright. I will work on it the next time we meet.

Oh, next time? she asked.

Naturally, he stated as he looked at her and grinned.

Eventually they arrived in front of the La Sirene. The valet were walking up towards them when Alex waved them off.

"Just dropping off this beautiful lovely lady my friends."

They nodded and went back as Gabrielle giggled and blushed a bit at his compliment.

He opened the door and let her out taking her hand as she got out.

Well, it seems like our meeting for tonight comes to an end, he stated.

There might be another time, she replied nonchalantly.

Oh? Alex said raising one eyebrow.

Might, she stated again and smiled.

He pulled out his business card and handed it to her. If you do not feel like giving me your number, feel free to give me a call instead.

She paused for a moment as if thinking about it then took the card and grinned.

I guess we will see? she asked.

Indeed.

With that he watched her head inside before heading back to his car and driving off.

Alex decided to head back home deciding that he would probably just try and make something and enjoy an evening meal at home. While his cooking stills were still questionable, it had been steadily improving with Kevin's guidance. But just to be on the safe measure, he called Eddy's assistant as he head home.

"Welkins, speaking."

"Carla! Alex, here. I was wondering-," Alex began.

"Eddy left for the day if that is what you are asking," she replied.

"Perfect! Just what I needed to hear!"

"Are you heading back to your place? You know what Eddy said."

"Are you going to tell him if I do go back?" he asked.

"No," Carla replied.

"Fantastic! Will see you later then."

"Take care of yourself, Alex."

With that he hung up and drove on home. When he arrived, he dropped of his car to the valet and too the elevator back up to his office. He was going to make sure there was no news or updates before heading up. As soon as the elevator opened, he was taken aback seeing the reception room lights lit. He saw his assistant Katarina working sitting at her desk trying to look busy. As he drew nearer he noticed that her eyes were red and a bit puffy.

She looked up momentarily and immediately looked back down trying to avoid eye contact.

"Alex! I thought you had the day off."

"I did and was coming back. Aren't you back early? I thought you were spending the latter half of your break with your boyfriend."

She merely nodded and was busy sorting away some paper work. He stood there for a few moments and knew that she was merely trying to look busy as there was nothing do actually do, not even a letter or note that he was going to check on. The fact that she was pretending the act busy, her hiding the fact she was crying, and coming back to work early meant something wrong happened.

"Kat, please look at me for a moment," he gently asked as he walked over towards her.

For a moment she stubbornly refused, but eventually looked up sorrow showing in her eyes.

What is wrong? he asked. Alex does not normally flaunt his languages skills around but whenever there is anything that he would take about in private with Katarina, he would revert to French since it was easier for her to speak as she was originally from France. She in turn did not tell anyone else about him knowing other languages especially to their clients or partners as it provided an edge when the other side tried speaking another language and they understood what was being transpired.

Katarina burst into tears and Alex immediately went over to comfort her, That bastard, I come by to visit him and h-he had that bitch in bed with him!

So your boyfriend was cheating.

She nodded and cried into his shoulders again. Alex patted her on the back and tried to sooth her. While he himself had slept around with others, he made sure that his partners knew he was not in any committed relationship and that neither were they. If you were going to cheat on each other, why bother committing to one another in the first place?

He let her cry herself out a bit until she began to calm down.

Feeling better? he asked grabbing the box of tissue from her desk and offering the remaining tissue left. Judging from the lightness of the tissue box, she went through a lot.

Yes, she replied smiling a bit weakly.

Good, well next important question. Did you have dinner yet? I was going to go upstairs and grab something to eat.

She shook her head. No, I haven't ate anything since this morning.

Katarina Delattre! he yelled causing her to shrink back a bit. How many times do I have to remind you to never forget your meals? Work may be important and your personal life may have some trouble, but that does not mean you should skip any!

He grabbed her by the arm and starting taking her to the elevator. You are not working the rest of the day and you are going to sit down and eat something and forget about the rest of the day.

She numbly obeyed and followed him up to the penthouse and to the kitchen, taking off his jacket and throwing it on a chair. He made her sit on one of the bar stools and took stock with what he had. Despite Kevin's disapproval, he had some instant preheated food and canned food stored in a pantry. He quickly took some mac and cheese and prepared it along with some jelly sandwiches. He put the sandwiches and mac and cheese on two plates and brought them to the counter top and got the utensils. He motioned her to dig in and went to and went to grab something to drink.

"Drink?" he asked. He got no response and turned around and saw her alternating from staring at the food and at him.

"Alright. So I can't make a real meal," He confessed. "At least it should be edible. I at least followed the instructions this time."

That brought out a weak laughter from Katarina.

"This time?" she asked.

He glowered at her, "Don't make me explain all those catastrophes of a meal I made before. At least this is simple and easy enough to make. Now, what do you want to drink?"

"Something strong to go with this," she replied as she slowly tasted the food before wolfing it down.

"Scotch?"

"That is a start."

He grabbed a bottle of scotch and two glasses and walked back to the counter.

"There is more if you want," he reminded her indicating to the pot that still held some left over mac in cheese. He opened the bottle and was about to pour when her hand shot out and grabbed the bottle and she started chugging away.

He looked at her taking in large gulps of scotch and she put the bottle back down on the table, coughing. She finished off half of the bottle already. Alex raised his eyebrows and took the bottle and poured himself a glass.

"You know you are going to get sick from that." He said as he drank his glass and poured another.

"Don't care. Just give me the bottle," she stated as she alternated between consuming her food and chugging the bottle. Before she finished it off, he grabbed the bottle away from her resulting in her crying out in dismay. She struggled to grab for the bottle and he finished it off leaving an empty bottle.

"You... are such... an ass," she muttered glaring at him.

He her a look and shrugged, finishing the rest of his meal and urging her to do the same. After the meal, he took the plates put them away and excused himself for a bit to use the restroom. When he got back, he saw she ransacked his fridge and was drinking a London Porter as well. _Well, she is most definitely going to be waking up with a hangover tomorrow_.

He opened the fridge and grabbed one himself. He led her toward the living room (but not without her demanding to bring a few more drinks with them) and sat on the sofas. He listened to her rant and cuss and talk about how she broke up with the guy. All the while, her words became less coherent and turning from English to French. He merely drank and listened to her, offering her a shoulder to lean on as she vented and cried. Eventually her ranting starting coming to an end as the alcohol began to strongly affect her. By then, he was knew he was also pretty drunk himself.

Seeing her nodding off, he stirred her a bit.

"Kat, if you are going to fall asleep you might as well do so in bed. Come."

Alex placed the bottles carefully on the coffee table and turned the lights out. He then carefully pulled her up without much resistance as she mumbled a bit. The walk up the stairs to one of the was a task in itself as one drunk tried to led the other drunk up the stairs. He carried her to one of the guest rooms turning on of the lights on and walked over to the bed where he lay her on it. She struggled a bit, taking off some of her confining clothing and murmured her thanks as he tucked her in. He sat on the edge of the bed and watching for a few moments before getting up.

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed his and he turned, seeing pleading eyes.

Please don't go. she begged.

He looked for a moment and reached out to turn out the lights and pulled of his shoes and pants before settling in the bed with her. She moved closer to him, laying her head on his chest. He maneuvered his arm a bit so that it lay behind her, out of the way. They lay there for a moment and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 2. As for this story, I know that this chapter shows that Alex did get around with quite a few sex partners (Sienna being one of them, and maybe Kat? Who knows?) However, this is not going to be a harem type story. That much I will clear out of the way, sure there may be a few instance where people may or may not sleep around, but this story will not lead to a harem story. Hope you enjoyed so far! Review are always welcome.


	3. Chapter 3 - Gabrielle

**DISCLAIMER:** The story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K Rowling, and various publishers including but not limited to Warner Bros., Scholastic Books, etc. This story is intended as a fan made story and no money is being made. No trademark and copyright infringement is intended.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** (6-30-2016) Chapter 3 is up now. Hope everyone has been enjoying this story. Story picks right off from the night with Kat. So it will reveal what happens. I did do some editing myself but apologize if there are still any errors in advance.

Again please refer to my profile page to check for status and update for any of my stories.

Anyways here we go!

Reviews always a welcome.

Word Count (approx.) – 3,439

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - Gabrielle**

* * *

 **FRIDAY**

Alex slowly woke up to the sunlight basked the room greeting them to a new morning. He realized he was not in his room and felt a massive headache throbbing in his head. He moved a hand to rub his temple when he felt something stir beside him. He looked and saw Katarina snuggled up against him under the covers slowly waking up as well from the slight disturbance.

"Good morning," Alex said to her.

She groaned a bit in response pulling herself up a bit before slumping down on him.

My head. she moaned.

He chuckled and slowly pulled away from her to get up. He walked over to his room and got two bottles of water from the fridge and got some painkillers and walked back to the guest room. Katarina got up leaned against the headrest and accepted the bottle of water and the painkillers and took them which he did as well. He sat on the edge of the bed staring off into space for a bit.

"That was a disaster," she muttered.

He chuckled at that as he looked at her seeing her take another drink of water. She stared off for a bit as well until she realized he was looking at her unabashedly. Looking down, she blushed a bit and covered herself.

"Pervert," she said.

"I won't deny that," he smirked.

"Then why didn't you try anything last night?"

"Cause I won't take advantage of someone who was in a complete mess, even if she was a hot mess," he replied.

Silence followed for a few moments as the two looked at each other for a while. Katarina lowered her eyes as she visibly relaxed.

"Thank you, Alex."

He merely nodded and moved about the room, picking up their discarded clothing and tossing them on the bed.

She quickly moved out of the bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up as he went back to his room and got a bag to put her yesterday clothes in. He then gathered his stuff and went back to his room and washed up. Once he dried himself, he walked over to his closet and selected a shirt and some jeans and headed downstairs to prepare breakfast.

He decided to stay on the side of caution and go with an easy breakfast of some cereal and milk and ate standing while leaning against the counter. Moments later, the sound of footsteps got him to look up seeing a much more relaxed Katarina wearing a faded blue jeans and a grey t-shirt. Ever since his first party at the penthouse, Alex realized that people tend to be in need of fresh clothing for the next if they happen to spend the night over. So he brought some clothing of various sizes and put them in one of the wardrobes in each guest room. Since then, Sienna would check once in a while to make sure that the spare clothing wardrobes had something for guests to wear, even if they were not a perfect fit.

He brought out an empty bowl and spoon and pushed the box of cereal and milk to her.

"Thanks," she said as she started to pour herself some breakfast.

"Anytime," he replied.

Eventually they finished up breakfast and checked the time. It was 9:17 in the morning and having a day with nothing to do was great.

"So what are you going to do?" Alex asked Katarina.

She shrugged and replied, "Probably go back to work and later head home later tonight."

"Oh no you don't. You are going to take today off and tomorrow as we scheduled and you will enjoy the rest of the day. If you want, I will go with you." He offered.

She shook her head smiling in appreciation at his offer.

"You don't have to, but I will take the time off then. Probably go shopping or something and kill time."

"Go to a spa then," he advised. "Unwind a little."

She thought for a moment and nodded. They chatted a bit longer and she gathered her belongings and left. He picked up the empty bottles from the living room and started cleaning the mess in the kitchen and cleaned up the guest room. As he finished making the bed, his phone rang.

"Lee, speaking."

"Alex?" a familiar accented voice came from the phone.

"Yes?" he responded.

"It is Gabrielle. We met yesterday?"

"Gabrielle! It is good to hear from you. I hope your evening went well?" he asked.

"Yes, it did go well. Thank you for asking," she replied. "Would you happen to be free today?"

"I believe my schedule just cleared up," he fibbed.

"Then would you be willing to show me around London?" she asked.

"For the mysterious lady, I most humbly accept," he replied.

"Mysterious?"

"Well you know my story, from what I recall, you have yet to tell me your side of the story. I believe that such a lovely tale would last at through lunch, dinner, and possibly dessert."

"Is food the only thing that comes to your mind when showing a lady around?" she asked while laughing.

"No, but it always a great place to start," he answered. "So where should we meet?"

"Have you heard of Pétrus?"

"The one in Westminster?"

"Yes. I heard it is popular and was thinking maybe we could go there for lunch."

"Then shall we meet there within an hour?"

"Sounds good. I will see you then." With that they ended the call and Alex called Kevin.

"Alex?"

"Kevin! Hope you are doing well. I have a bit of a favor to ask."

"Sure, what do you need?" Kevin inquired.

"I am planning on meeting someone at Pétrus and was wondering if-"

"Get you in? Using me for my connections, Alex? I'm hurt," Kevin exclaimed in a mocking manner. Pétrus was owned by Gordon Ramsay and being one of his students, Alex banked on the hope that Kevin would either have connections to the restaurant directly or could have Gordon connect him… if his mentor was willing to. However, he could not resist to tease his back.

"Well I need to find a place with a chef who is willing to provide real meals and does not kill me with their insane experiments."

"Oi!"

Alex laughed which Kevin joined in.

"I'll get you in, Alex. But you owe me!"

Alex agreed. "Aye, I do."

"Oh, you will get it. Get ready for the next Mystery Dish, it is going to have anchovies!"

"Noooo!" Alex called out in a voice filled with despair. He hated anchovies and told Kevin that he did not want any dish with them. Since then Kevin always teased him about putting anchovies in his meals.

Kevin chuckled over the line.

"Thanks, mate."

"No worries, just enjoy your date," he responded.

"What date?"

"Why else would you be asking me to pull some strings at a short notice?"

"Well..." Alex began but was cut off by Kevin.

"Tell me later about it. Focus on the date. I will see you later."

With that Kevin hung up the call.

Alex got ready and drove out.

He arrived about ten minutes before the meeting time and was about to go in when he saw Gabrielle walking up the street. She smiled when she saw him and quickened her pace a bit.

"I see that you are an early person as well," she stated.

"Naturally," he smirked.

He opened the door to the restaurant and let her in to the bustling restaurant.

"Thank you."

"My pleasure."

Alex looked around. The place was packed due to the lunch hour. There were even several people sitting in the waiting room waiting to take a seat. A host walked looked up expectantly from his station at them.

"Welcome to Pétrus, monsieur and mademoiselle. How many in your party?"

"Two," Alex replied. "We have a reservation under Alex."

The host nodded in recognition.

"Yes, we have been waiting for you. Please right this way," he stated. Taking two menus, he led the two towards the back. They went around a wine rack that stood in the middle of the room encased in a glass column to a circular table with a candle burning sitting in the middle of the table that was covered in a white table cloth.

The host helped them take their seats and offered their menus and walked off.

Gabrielle looked at Alex raising one eyebrow.

"I must admit that was fairly quick. I was expecting to wait for a few minutes before being seated. What magic did you pull?"

"The magic of friends," he responded. "I actually happened to know someone who may have connections to the restaurant and called to see if he would be able to help. He was able to and here we are. Although, it may have come at a price for me."

"Oh?"

"He enjoys trying new creations and I have the unfortunate luck to be his victim."

She giggled a bit at that and proceeded to look through the menu. A waiter came by and took their order and left. At Alex's urging, she talked a bit about herself. Her family was originally from France and were in London for their business trip and to meet her older sister Fleur and her husband Bill. Her sister and husband both worked at a bank which was where the two met and later married after being together for a while. She was a bit vague on what her parents did, but from what he gathered, they did business here and there and seemed to keep most of their time in France when they could. Gabrielle herself was actually still in school studying and turned out she skipped a grade and would be graduating the following year. She was still trying to figure out what to do after her graduation. She stated she had an interest in modeling, but at the same time thought maybe being a teacher or officer would be nice option.

She explained how when she was younger there was a young man who saved her and she developed a small crush on him. She later learned that he joined the law enforcement and was doing well, before he taught several others self-defense and toyed with the idea to follow his footsteps. Her parents were supportive of her and encouraged her to choose what she desires.

Alex listened quietly tensing a bit when she talked about the support and love that her parents provided. It was something he did not have. When he tried calling a few months after moving to London, his parents just hung up the phone right after he said "hello". He was able to hide his feelings successfully from her and continued the conversation with her.

As they finished they left the restaurant and Alex took Gabrielle around London as promised. They first stopped by Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. Alex parked the car nearby and shown the buildings around even managed to find someone to provide a brief tour. He also pointed out the London Eye across the river to Gabrielle explaining to her that it would be better seen at night. They walked over towards the National Gallery looking at various paintings and comparing their views with one another. Of the pictures, the one they agreed caught their attention the most was Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers. Van Gogh's art was different from other traditional paintings in the gallery, yet the wildness of the drawing compared to the firm traditional stroke felt refreshing to them both.

Of course, the refreshing tour was all ruined when they came across a supposedly famous rising modern artist and his abstract art works. While both agree that some abstract art are not always bad, most artists that pride themselves in such art are technically untalented artists. It was especially true when most of their work look like it had been done by a kindergarten. Looking at a description next to one of the paintings they both quietly concluded that the artist truly had no idea what he was doing. Looking around, Alex realized they were not the only ones who thought the artwork was that special. In fact, as they were leaving the area, they heard a child cry stating that she did not want to be punished by going into a room filled with those awful paintings.

Hearing that the two laughed as they exited the National Gallery. Gabrielle suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the street hailing a cab.

"I know the next two places I would like to visit," she stated. "My brother-in-law used to work in Egypt and recommended to check out the replica of the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum."

"Then let's go," Alex agreed.

They took the cab to the British Museum. Upon arrival Alex was expecting to take a quick look around the museum itself, but Gabrielle kept dragging him around until they stood in front of the Rosetta Stone. They looked that the stone. It was a little anticlimactic he thought and Gabrielle mentioned it as well. They both thought it would be something exciting but it just did not catch their attention. By then, Alex checked the time and realized it was nearly evening and the museum was closing soon. He was thinking maybe to look around some more before heading out when he suddenly heard a growling stomach.

At first he thought it was his stomach and he was about to apologize to Gabrielle when he noticed that she suddenly turned all red. It was not his stomach that was growling.

"I take it that-"

"Shut it," she immediately replied.

Alex raised his hands in submission and smiled.

They left the museum agreeing to come back and actually visit the rest and were trying to decide a place to eat. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants around the area were busy. Gabrielle stated that she could not simply wait and looked around. Her eyes lit up a bit and she pointed at something across the street. Alex followed the direction she pointed and raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" he asked.

"Might as well," she replied. "I never tried one here and it would be an experience. Not to mention I am quite famished."

They walked over to the small stand that Gabrielle pointed at and Alex ordered two hotdogs with chips and drinks. The man working the stand smiled and gave them their food which Alex paid for. The two thanked the man and walked a bit finding a place to sit and not be in the pedestrians' way and had their dinner.

Gabrielle sighed in content as she finished her food.

"Feeling alive now?" Alex asked.

She nodded and smiled at him, the rays from the sun set making it seem like she was glowing. "I probably could have had more, but I am good for now."

Alex heart melted a bit seeing her smile. Once they finished, he gathered up the trash and threw it away.

With their stomachs satisfied for now, the walked a bit, heading towards Kings Cross Station to check out the station where some of her friends and in-laws used to take to go to school. When they arrived he saw her walk ahead heading in. He followed her and later saw her standing on the platform for nine and ten, staring intently at a column before tentatively placing a hand on the column. After a few moments she turned and gave him another one of her stunning smiles. When they headed out, the street lights began to turn on reminding Alex to lead Gabrielle back to the river.

They hailed a cab again to take them back stopping just a block away from the river to get out and walk the rest of the way there. When they turned a corner and saw the London Eye come into view, she gave a small gasp. Across the river, the Eye and buildings around it were light up in various colors creating a beautiful scenery.

"It's so beautiful," she exclaimed.

Alex smiled to himself. "I thought you might have liked this."

They stared in fascination at the light effects as the two leaned against the rail that bordered the river. The two stood close to each other for a few moments of peace when they heard some footsteps walking up to them.

"Excuse me, would you like to have a picture taken?" a voice asked.

They turned around and saw a teenage boy standing behind them with a rather beaten up camera.

"How much for a picture?" Alex asked.

"Five Pounds," the teenager replied.

Alex looked at Gabrielle who nodded with excitement and looked back at the boy. He pulled out his wallet and gave a Fifty Pound note to the boy whose eyes widen in surprise.

"Alright. Keep the change but make sure to take some stunning pictures of us. We will want to have two copies."

"Yes, sir!" the boy replied.

A few minutes later, they stood next to an open booth where the boy printed out several pictures. Alex was shocked to see how great the pictures came out to be. Looking at the way how poor the camera condition was and to be able to bring out such stunning pictures blew both him and Gabrielle away.

"You, sir are truly talented," Alex praised the teenager who blushed a bit with embarrassment.

"Naw, sir," he replied. "Just mainly pointing the camera and pressing the button. All there is to it."

"So what do you do other than take pictures?" he asked.

"All I do, sir. Don't have time for school and have to find a way to make a living for me and my sis."

Alex nodded. "And your name?"

"Lewis. Lewis Warren, sir."

"And you like photography?" Alex inquired.

The boy nodded. "Yes, sir. Ever since I was able to press the shutter. Also was my dad's favorite hobby, until he passed."

He looked at the boy for a brief moment in thought and pulled out his business card and handed it to the boy who took the card and looked at it eyes widening with surprise.

"If you would be interested, Lewis, come see me tomorrow I believe someone of your talent and passion should have an opportunity to truly shine," he stated.

"T-thank you, sir!" Lewis replied.

Alex smiled at him and looked at Gabrielle.

"Shall we?"

She nodded and Alex gave a nod towards Lewis whose eyes followed them until they were out of sight.

"That was interesting," she murmured.

Alex chuckled a bit as they walked around for a bit. They stopped by a small ice cream shop and spent the rest of the evening chatting away until the owner stated in an apologetic manner that they were closing down shop for the night.

They walked around some more for a bit before ending the evening. Alex offered to take her home which she accepted. However, before they arrived to where ever she was staying at, she told him that she could get off from where they were and not to worry. It was a familiar street actually. In fact, it was the same street where he first saw her. She gave him a hug and thanked him again for the lovely date and got out of the car. She stood by clearly waiting for him to leave before heading off herself which he did. As he slowly drove away he saw her walking down the street. When he reached the intersection, he looked up once more right before turning out from the street. All he saw was an empty street with the old building that stood across from the diner.

Alex drove back to his penthouse and went up to his office. Kat was not there, which meant that she was actually taking some time off as she should. He sat on his desk and checked to see if there were any news or incidents. Seeing that there were none, Alex went upstairs and took a nice bath.

Eventually he got out drying himself before wrapping himself with a bathrobe. He went over to one of the bookshelves and gazed at the books before selecting one. It was part of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. He took the book with him and crawled to the middle of the bed and began reading. He read through the first two chapters before finding himself asleep with the book resting on his chest.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Definitely shorter than chapter 2, but chapter 2 length was actually a lot longer than I would have expected. This was a more of the sort of length I was anticipating. Problem was trying to cut chapter 2 into shorter ones. But yes Alex did have a second date with Gabrielle and things went well. You also got a change to meet with Lewis Warren a bit and you will see a little more of him in the following chapter as well. After all, Alex did invite him to meet up with him.

Well thank you again for your support! Reviews always welcome and please check out my profile to see when the next update for the story will be. I will try and keep my stories updated and my profile page will have the most updated information. Thanks again!


	4. Chapter 4 - Work and Uncertainty

**DISCLAIMER:** The story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K Rowling, and various publishers including but not limited to Warner Bros., Scholastic Books, etc. This story is intended as a fan made story and no money is being made. No trademark and copyright infringement is intended.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** (7-14-2016) Nothing much to say so hope you all enjoy!

Reviews always a welcome.

Word Count (approx.) – 4,613

* * *

 **Chapter 4 - Work and Uncertainty**

* * *

 **SATURDAY**

Lewis Warren and his sister Ashley Warren stood in front of the massive building which was the headquarters for the Delacour Group in Britain. Last night, he happened to have met the Executive Director of the well-established company who offered to meet with him when he could. While he thought it was just a fluke, Lewis called earlier that morning to confirm a meeting and was immediately granted an appointment for 1:30pm that day. His sister hearing about this asked if she could come with and he allowed her, not wanting to be away from her more than necessary.

The young teenager and his sister cleaned up the best they could and wore the best clothing they had available to them. Lewis wore some old worn blue jeans with a greying button up shirt and some converse that have clearly seen better days. His sandy hair was brushed and not in the usual mess he kept it in, which normally covered his brown eyes. Slung over his shoulder was his old camera bag with his camera in it. Beside him was a small portfolio bag of some of photos he took.

His sister, Ashley, wore a faded yellow dress wearing some old Mary Janes to go with the outfit. She had a whitish ribbon that tied her hair back, her brown eyes nervously flickering about taking in the scenery as she stood close to her brother.

It was now 1:20pm when they arrived at the entrance to the building. They walked into the front and met up with the receptionist who looked up and did not bother to hid the look of disgust from their apparel before looking back down and not bothering to help

"Hello," Lewis called out. "We are here to meet with Mr. Lee."

The girl snorted looking at them in a demeaning manner.

"Mr. Lee is very busy today, please come back another time after setting up an appointment," she responded before looking back at her nails.

Lewis was a bit offended by her actions as the girl was clearly more interested in filing her nails rather than trying to help him. Still he persisted to talk to her.

"Pardon me, but I do have an appointment with Mr. Lee at 1:30pm. It should be under Lewis Warren."

The girl paused for a moment let out a sigh that clearly displayed that she was annoyed looked at a small list and then back to him in clear disgust.

"YOU are Mr. Warren?"

"Yes," he replied.

She made a call her voice sounding very bored. A few moments later she straightened up a bit looking at them with an obvious fake smile.

"He will be with you shortly."

With that, she immediately went right back to finishing her nails as Lewis and Ashley took a seat. Five minutes later a woman came out from an elevator and walked over to them. Her eyes flickering briefly towards the receptionist who was busy applying makeup and clearly not doing any work.

"Mr. Warren?"

"Yes?" Lewis replied standing with his sister close by.

"Carla Welkins," she introduced shaking their hands. "I am Mr. Johnson's assistant. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Lewis and Ashley made introduces themselves as well.

"Please come this way. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced," he said as she glared at the receptionist who was completely oblivious to them nor was she rushing to immediately help another person who just came in.

Carla led them into the elevator and took them up. When they arrived on the floor, they walked into a large reception room with a rather large double door in front of them. There was also a reception desk next to the door with no one at the table at the moment. Once they walked up to the doors, Carla motioned them to wait a moment and opened the door partially before slipping in. Within a few moments she came back out and beckoned them in. The two children's eyes widened even more as they entered the office.

"Ah, Lewis good to see you again please come over here!"

Alex stood sitting on a sofa with a man in his middle years standing up next to him. They went over and made introductions. They provided some refreshments which the children gladly accepted and Alex and the man next to him, Eddy, began to ask some questions.

At their encouragement, Lewis began to answer their questions to the best of his abilities. There were a few questions asked to Ashley as well who bravely answered back a few while the two men and Carla too copious notes. They asked the two about their education, where they lived, what they did, about their parents. Some of the questions hit quite close to home.

Lewis and Ashley's parents died in a car accident two years ago leaving them with their debt. Due to the debt, the collectors seized anything of value and the two children were kicked out of their homes and were not even sent to the orphanage. The only thing that they had that belonged to their family was the camera that Lewis carried around with him. For two years Lewis and Ashley moved about looking for a place to stay temporarily before moving on. Ashley went to school whenever she could, but the constant change made it difficult for her to attend her school. Lewis gave up school altogether to try and bring in whatever he could bring in to support his sister and himself.

After what seems like hours although no more than an hour and a half went by, they asked Lewis to show his portfolio. The pictures there brought a surprised expression from the three.

"You took this pictures you said? With that old camera?" Eddy asked.

Lewis looked a little offended at calling his camera old, but he silently nodded.

After going through the last picture, Eddy looked at the two carefully particularly the girl and looked at his assistant raising one eyebrow. She nodded in agreement to his silent inquiry. They looked at Alex, who looked at them with an inquiring look, and nodded. With Eddy's acknowledgement, Alex leaned forward a bit looking at both of them, though he looked mainly at Lewis.

"Lewis I have a proposition for you. Would you be interested in taking an internship with us here? I assure you that if you accept it will be a paid internship so you will have a steady income. We can also schedule your internship so that you can go school and finish your classes as well if you would like."

Lewis was taken back, his mind in complete shock.

"I-I-," he stuttered.

Eddy leaned forward as well grinning. "If your sister is interested, we could also provide an internship here as well for her. That way she does not have to wait for you while you are interning."

Ashley now was in complete shock as well. Seeing the two children with such expression brought much amusement to the three adults.

The two gentlemen along with Carla explained what the children would expect. For Alex, they thought of him being an assistant photographer. For Ashley as Eddy was able to see the subtle beauty and cuteness hidden from the hardship, Eddy offered her an internship in modeling for the youth line, design, or anything else she may take an interest in. They also mentioned the compensation and the salary for their internships.

The Warren siblings huddled together whispering with each other for a few moments before turning towards them with hunger and excitement emitting from their eyes.

"We accept," Lewis replied.

Carla produced a contract for the two and had them review sign the documents. Eddy reminded the two children to make sure to go over everything in the document and to have them explain any sections that are unclear.

"There are lots of legal issues with such contracts," Eddy stated. "And you want to make sure that you know what you are getting before you commit yourself to sign the document."

Once done, Alex and Eddy also stated that they could make use of one of Alex's spare room until better arrangements could be made. The Warren siblings protested at first, but with Eddy's insistence, the two accepted. They also stated that while Lewis is still a child legally but near of age to be emancipated, they can make arrangements to see if they could have him emancipated to which he eagerly agreed to.

And so the Warren siblings spent the rest of the day moving their meager belongings to Alex's penthouse and spent most of the day exploring the place with much enthusiasm.

* * *

Weeks and later months went by and since many things began to change. The Warren siblings were registered to a school closer to the office allowing them a shorter commute to and from school. They even met many people who some in turn befriended them. While they were given chances to move out, the two did not and Alex did not pressure them to leave either. In a sense it was like having younger siblings in his house.

Alex still hosted parties at his place but the parties were much more toned down. The guests took notice of the change and having the young children around, but nevertheless still enjoyed the parties he hosted despite the more controlled manner. Kat and Sienna acted like the older sisters for the siblings and helped them with whatever they needed. Sienna's and Alex's night rendezvous became less frequent though they still slept once in a while. Eventually, they both agreed to stop sleeping with each other but still remained close to each other as good friends as Alex began to actively pursue Gabrielle.

It took a while, but legal was able to process the documents to emancipate Lewis and to have him be Ashley's legal guardian. In celebration for that, Lewis and Ashley taken out to celebrate and visit the zoo while enjoying the sites.

Lewis began to thrive, studying hard and working intensively. He absorbed what he learned like a sponge much to his supervisor's excitement, who stated that once he graduates he should be offered a full time position in the company. This brought much pride to Lewis and to his sister for seeing how successful he was doing.

Ashley enjoyed school and the fact that her classes were no longer being constantly interrupted. While she took an interest in modeling, she found out that she loved to design outfits. After the first month of lessons, she began to alter her own clothing. She also became fast friends with Lily. When Lily came by, the two were always seen together, modeling clothing with one another sometimes trying out one of Ashley's outfits that she made.

The happiest person though was Kevin. His daughter made a new friend who had similar interests as her. He now had more people to cook for with the addition of the Warren siblings, Kat whenever she wished to, and Gabrielle.

Alex meet with Gabrielle throughout the rest of summer, eventually bringing her to his place. He introduced her to the others and sometimes went on group outings with them. They continued to meet each other until she had to go back to France for her last year of school. During the latter part of summer, they began to hold hands and share a chaste kiss every once in a while. Some nights Gabrielle came to spend the night every once in a while sleeping in one of the guest rooms. But as the summer went by and their relationship grew, she started to spend the night in his room cuddled up with him. Despite sharing a bed, they never went further then cuddling and the occasional kiss. This was something completely different from the types of relationship that Alex was used to, but he felt satisfied and content just holding onto her. The day before she left though, he officially asked her out which she accepted earning him another kiss before she left.

Everyone teased him stating that Gabrielle got him whipped as he was no longer the workaholic that lived a life with parties and women. Surprisingly for him, he actually did not mind and felt at ease. However, the calming feeling lasted only for a short while.

Time went by and Alex was slowly getting frustrated. He tried contacting Gabrielle to see how she was doing got no answer back. Her phone was not working, those who may have an idea could not provide any information. Worry began to fell on him. He was certain she was not the cheating type despite her occasional flirty behavior. Sure there may be some people she may fancy, like that Harry Potter guy, but it was merely fascination. She knew about his lifestyle before and during the time they met. She, like everyone else, knew that he changed his lifestyle over the summer. He was no longer the sex craving workaholic who threw extreme parties just to blow some steam. While he did host some parties they were much more toned down than before. So he knew that reasoning would not have caused a communication black out.

He remembered the look of wanting in her eyes when he asked her and knew that they wanted each other that night. However wanting to do it right this time around, Alex and Gabrielle agreed to try and take it steady so that they can enjoy the relationship. For some reason he felt that this was it. This was the girl he was to be with for the rest of his life. When they were together, they acted as if there was no one else in the world but them two. It was in a sense a very innocent and loving relationship for the two. Yet all that ended once she left for school and went off the radar.

His constant worry began to affect his work performance as it began to suffer noticeably. There were times that Eddy demanded that he take some time off to sort his personal life before coming back to work. After a week of feeling out of it, Alex decided that if he was just going to act like this, he might as well just focus on work and forget everything else. He still threw himself into work slowly turning back to his old workaholic self once more. While performance wise, this was great, everyone was concerned seeing him reverting back to his old days.

His frustration of wanting her kept hammering at him, causing him to stress out. He destressed at work becoming a very stern but very efficient taskmaster. He would also call and leave a message to her every week just to keep his own sanity, hoping that she would call back.

Eventually, it was a week before Christmas when he received a call.

"Lee, speaking," Alex said as he picked up his phone.

"Alex?" A familiar voice asked.

"… Gabi?" he asked shocked.

"Sorry, I did not reply back sooner," she responded.

"What happened? I tried calling you for a while now."

"I know and I'm sorry," Gabrielle replied back. "I did not have my phone on with me until now. So I did not know that you left messages for me until now."

 _How could someone not respond to their phone in months when they used to calling each other every day?_ He thought.

However, he replied. "No, that is alright. How have you been? I missed you."

There was a moment of silence before he heard a reply.

"Alright I guess. I need a favor if you do not mind me asking," her voice sounding a bit nervous.

Alex froze a moment noting that she did not reply to his last remark.

"What do you need?" he asked trying not to sound upset.

 _Hasn't called me back in a while and first thing calls me for is for a favor?_ He realized that he was being a little unfair about being angry with her. He decided to push the negative feelings aside for now.

"I need you as my date," came the short reply.

He sat upright, his trail of thought going right out the window. "Uh... pardon?"

"A date."

"Yes, I got that."

"With you."

"Oh."

Alex was a bit stunned at the forwardness from Gabrielle.

"Thought you did not like me or something after you left," he said in a strained teasing voice while trying to keep the slight bitterness he still had.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she replied back her voice sounding more cheerful.

"Alright, is there a place you had in mind or where do you want me to pick you up?" he asked. Relief slowly spreading across his body. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Actually, I have an early Christmas party I have to attend tonight and I need to bring a date. So I was wondering if you would be interested in coming as my date tonight."

"I would be honored to go as your date," he answered.

Thank you!

"Would you like me to pick you up and what time?" he asked.

"No worries about that, I will see you at your place around five tonight and you can drive us to the location?"

"Alright."

"Perfect! Oh, and remember to dress formal tonight."

With that she hung up and he wondered what was going on. Well at least he has something planned tonight. He called to the receptionist on the ground floor (the previous one being sacked a while ago) notifying them that he would have a guest coming around five and to call him when she arrived.

He spent the rest of the morning and afternoon in his study leisurely reading the morning newspaper.

The hour before the meeting time, he washed up once more and changed into his dark two button custom fitted Brioni suit with a white collared shirt and blue necktie. The suit was complete with black oxford by George Cleverley.

He made sure the last preparations were made before heading downstairs where group of people stood looking at him expectantly.

"Well, finally seeing him act like his age again," Eddy remarked bringing the others to snicker.

Alex looked away a bit embarrassment.

"You didn't expect us to find out?" a woman called out. It was Eddy's wife, Martha.

Alex composed himself and put his arms out and turned.

"Well, how do I look?"

"Could do without the suit," Sienna teased causing the rest the laugh once more.

"You go and enjoy yourself, Alex," Kevin stated. "We will have our own little party here tonight, so don't bother to come back early!"

With that the others cheered him on. Eddy and his wife went into the kitchen to help Kevin and his wife prepare dinner as Carla and her fiancé chatted with Sienna and Kat. Andrew was home for the holiday and was eyeing his sister's best friend with interest as Lily and Ashley as they dashed up the stairs to Ashley's room. Lewis seeing Andrew's look of interest decided to pull him to the side to have a chat. This of course did not go unnoticed by Kevin who laughed silently to himself at the amusement of Lewis' protective nature towards his sister.

Alex look at his watch once more when he got a call.

"Yes?"

"Hello, Mr. Lee. We have a Miss Gabrielle waiting for you." The receptionist replied.

"I will be right then, thank you."

With that he headed downstairs. As he got out of the elevator he stood still looking at the beauty that stood in front of him.

Gabrielle grew a little bit and definitely developed a bit during the months he had not seen her. She wore a dark blue dress that plunged a little in the front, the back was low cut showing off her soft bare skin. The dress trailed down just barely touching the floor just barely hiding what looked to be black d'Orsays pumps. She have a blue shawl covering part of her back with the ends draped over each arm. Her flowing golden hair was made up in a romantic half up-down style. She wore minimal makeup allowing more of her natural looks shine through complete with silver earrings and a necklace that be bought for her before he left for school.

While Alex seen Gabrielle looking wonderful before, she was just incredible tonight. He was momentarily stunned by her as she looked up seeing him.

She also gave him a look over, eyes burning with desire and in approval of what she saw. She smiled in a flirtatious manner nearly making him lose his composure.

He gathered his self-control just barely and walked towards her with a smirk. Her eyes brightened when she noticed him nearly lose himself and walked in a seductive manner towards him until they met face to face.

It has been a while Mr. Lee Gabrielle said in a low voice her voice almost purring.

Likewise he responded.

He slowly pulled her in and gave her a slow kiss on the lips that intensified for just a brief moment. As they pulled apart they heard a polite cough startling them a bit. The new receptionist, a much friendlier person, looked at them a little red faced from the public display of affection. Alex and Gabrielle looked a little embarrassed and he quickly escorted his date to pick up his car.

While with Gabrielle, he always drove the Bentley around. However, this time, the valet pulled up a different care this time around. It was a black Ferrari. Gabrielle looked at the car in amazement and was escorted to her seat. Once seated, Alex went over towards his side and got in buckling himself in as the valet closed the door for him.

"I did not know you had another car," she stated as she looked at the features in the car.

"Actually, I have three."

"I would like the see the third one the next time we go for a drive," she said.

He shrugged feeling more like himself now and responded back with a smirk. "Maybe, depends on how I feel."

She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Maybe I can convince you?"

Alex's hands tightened around the steering wheel for a moment.

"You probably can, easily," he replied as he drove the on to the street.

She chuckled at his response.

"Although, you might not like it."

"Why not?" she asked.

"It's an old car," he replied. "One that my parents used to drive when I was young."

"A minivan?" she asked her eyes wide with shock.

He nodded looking a bit sheepish. He remembered all the fun times he had as a child in his parents' minivan as they drove him to school or to one of his lessons. Wanting to relive it a bit, he bought a minivan that was just like the one before. He even made sure that it was the same year make as well. Despite the minivan was something that an executive would definitely not use, especially when it seen better days, it was in a sense a reminder of his childhood that he actually liked.

"So where to?" he asked trying to divert the topic.

"The Ritz," she replied promptly.

As they drove down the street Gabrielle apologized again for the lack of contact. She explained about how it is hard to contact others by normal means where she goes. This got Alex thinking a bit as well. He remembered how Kat once mentioned that her school, Beauxbatons, did not have any normal means of communication and thus had difficult time trying to reach out to others outside of school. Apparently, there was no cellular network or land line services in the area. The only means of communication was by letter and even then, the letter would had to be sorted through the school which carefully monitored the letters. As Gabrielle also attends Beauxbatons, it began to make sense to Alex about that despite the oddity.

They drove up to the Ritz Hotel located close to the river. It was an elegant building that displayed the architecture of the late 1800s to early 1900s. Alex drove up to the hotel where the valet promptly relieved him of his car. He escorted Gabrielle who directed him to the restaurant inside. Just at the entrance, they met with some staff and security personal for the event. The attendant at the front smiled and nodded at them both and ushered them inside where people were milling about.

Through the doors, the floor on the other side was cleared on one end and in the middle allowing people to mingle with several dining tables placed around the area forming one large area for people to chat and possibly hold an event later in the evening. So far, the place seemed to be bustling with over two hundred people moving about with more coming in. Some Alex recognized as famous designers, models, and executives in the industry. However, there were many who Alex did not recognize and seeing some of the styles that a few sported, were definitely foreigners or at least have a different taste in fashion than normal if only a hundred plus years outdated in their style sense.

As they walked closer to the mingling group, a striking young man wearing a brightly colored robe approached and bowed to them both.

"Ah, Mademoiselle Delacour," he said. "It is nice to see you tonight."

Alex immediately noticed Gabrielle's grip tighten around him more at this. It was fairly obvious that he was addressing her as he walked up to them, but she seemed to be giving him a glaring look.

 _Interesting_. He thought as he noticed how the gentleman addressed Gabrielle.

"Pardon?" Alex asked trying to pry some more information from the man.

"Pardon me, Mister Lee!" the man exclaimed. "I was not expecting you here tonight and must say was a pleasant surprise that Mademoiselle Delacour here has brought you here tonight. The name is Louis Malkin it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, sir. I have heard many great things that you have done in the muggle side."

"Muggle?" Alex asked a bit confused.

Louis paled a bit and laughed nervously waving his hand as if it was nothing. "Oh! J-just a term I like to use. Nothing of importance really."

Alex nodded slightly to Louis and shook the man's hand, not really trusting the cover up that Louis made.

"Well it is nice to meet you, Mister Malkin," Alex replied back. "And thank you for the clarification."

The three chatted a bit before they were asked to find a seat for their meal. During the entire time, Gabrielle was quiet until Alex broke the silence once the two found a seat and sat down.

"So," he started slowly. "Mademoiselle Delacour, huh?"

She looked down for a moment and looked at him clearly seeing him trying to take in that bit of information.

"I did not want you to know who I was related too," she replied softly. Luckily no one else took a seat at their table yet.

"Well," Alex said. "It would be nice to know that I was going out with someone who is related to my boss that way I would not have-"

"Would not have what, Mister Lee?" a familiar voice asked behind them.

Alex turned around and his face whitened a bit.

 _Bloody hell._


	5. Chapter 5 - Unexpected Moments

**DISCLAIMER:** The story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K Rowling, and various publishers including but not limited to Warner Bros., Scholastic Books, etc. This story is intended as a fan made story and no money is being made. No trademark and copyright infringement is intended.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** (8-28-2016) First off, sorry for the delay with this story. I actually procrastinated this one and apologize for that.

So, I have been trying to end this story. Originally as I posted in the beginning this was literally supposed to be a short. As you can see, I have failed at that as we are now in our fifth chapter. I just cannot seem to end this story even though I wanted to for quite some time. It do enjoy writing this one, but it was not supposed to even be this long.

Despite this, I would like to thank the readers who have shown support by reading and marking this as a favorite or follow. While I have been having a hard time trying to get the chapter posted with the delays due to various reasons, I would like to still thank you for your patience.

As a reminder, words in are being spoken in French.

Reader discretion is as always advised.

Reviews always a welcome.

Word Count (approx.) – 4,321

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – Unexpected Moments**

* * *

Alex turned around at the familiar voice that spoke up behind him. His boss, Apolline Delacour, and her assistance, Allison Mercier, stood right behind him, her eyes giving him a measuring look.

 _Bloody hell._

Of course, the girl he was going out with just happened to be related to his boss.

 _Best way to fuck up your career, Alex._ He thought to himself. He bravely put on a smile and bowed respectfully to Apolline.

"Hello, Apolline. Pleasure to meet you again," he greeted her and giving Allison a nod.

"Oh?" she replied her eyebrows raised a bit. "From what I was hearing earlier, it would seem quite the opposite."

Before Alex could reply, she gestured at the two.

"Perhaps we should adjourn to the Rivoli for a bit? We still have some time before the event begins."

Alex nodded not daring to refuse as he and Gabrielle followed Apolline to the Rivoli Bar. During their short walk to there, Alex began to make a quiet comparison between Gabrielle and Apolline. He can now definitely make the connection between the two that shows the connection as family along with the inheritance of the beauty. He mentally cursed himself for not noticing. While he only saw Apolline as his boss and with her intimidating business like aura, he never really looked in on her. Besides, she was a married lady and it was improper in Alex's mind to try and pursue someone who was taken not to mention was your boss. When he had the chance to look more closely that night things began to click for him. Gabrielle was either Apolline's niece or daughter and he put money in that she was the daughter.

As one of the host led them to a private lounge, the three took a seat and the host asked if they would like anything to drink.

"The Dom Pérignon," Apolline replied. "As usual and some glasses as well."

"Would the Rosé Drink Champagne Vintage be alright?" he asked.

"Oui," she replied.

The host left and moments later brought forth a bottle of Dom Pérignon and served the wine to the three and left.

Silence filled the air for a few uncomfortable moments as Apolline took her time tasting the wine. She then looked at Gabrielle and Alex briefly before speaking up.

Is this the person? Apolline asked looking at Gabrielle.

Yes, mother. Also, he understand French. Just saying. she replied.

Apolline looked curiously at Alex who gulped and nodded.

Then I guess you do not mind that we continue this in French?

Alex shook his head.

No, Madame Delacour. he replied nervously.

Good. she said. First off, how come you have not mentioned that you spoke French before to me?

I actually thought that it was not necessary for me to state at the time. Alex answered.

Apolline once again looked at him carefully.

So the conversation during our first meeting…

Yes. He replied. I understood your conversation with Ms. Mercier, however, believed it was better to not cause any discomfort then.

Oh? And now? she inquired.

Obviously, I made the wrong decision to not inform you or to make sure that it was listed that I knew.

And how did you two meet? she asked.

Alex briefly summarized how he and Gabrielle met and the meetings after. After his summarized tale, Apolline took another sip before standing up gracefully.

Well, this seems to be quite interesting. However, it seems we will have to conclude for now and rejoin the others. Would it be alright if we meet at another time perhaps?

Alex nodded.

Just one more thing. What is your intention with my daughter? Apolline asked.

Actually, I did not know she was related to you until tonight.

Oh? she replied indicating him to continue.

Well, you see when we first met. he began.

I actually introduced myself as Gabrielle Weasley, mother. Gabrielle spoke up.

Apolline raised her eyebrows a bit, intrigued as Alex nodded in confirmation.

I honestly did not know she was your daughter.

And now that you know. Would you stay away from her if I desire it so? Apolline asked.

I would still request that I be able to meet her if possible. he replied. If you are willing to give me a chance, I would to prove to you that I am worthy.

Apolline raised her hand, stopping him from speaking further.

We shall see how it goes. For tonight, I will allow you to escort her around. We will have to arrange another time though to speak in private.

Alex nodded once more.

Agreed.

Splendid. she stated as she got up. I will have Allison contact you on an available date.

She looked at Gabrielle who was silent much of the conversation.

Enjoy the night dear. We will have to talk about that later.

Mother! Gabrielle cried out.

Apolline gave Alex another good look that clearly showed she withheld judgement for now and left with her assistant leaving Gabrielle and Alex in the Rivoli.

Alex then cleared his throat.

"Well, that brief but interesting. I thought she would have torn me to bits."

Gabrielle looked at him sideways and murmured.

"She has not decided yet how to deal with the situation. For now, she is letting it go."

"Oh?"

"Well, when she found out that I was meeting someone, she was very curious. Same thing happened when my sister met her husband."

"Really?"

Gabrielle nodded.

"Bill was asked many questions and was grilled quite a bit by mother when she arranged a meeting with him. Eventually she gave her blessing to Fleur and Bill."

"And that part when she said later?"

"Nothing fairly important."

"Any more secrets I should be concerned about?" he asked.

Gabrielle stiffened a bit before replying.

"There is. However, I am not allowed to say."

"Oh?"

"It is a secret that is in regards to the family as a whole."

Alex merely inclined his head sideways indicating that he heard and understood as the two started walking back towards the event once more. As they entered, they were immediately ushered to their seats. As Alex escorted Gabrielle to her seat, he noticed more people flocking in and beginning to take their own seats as well.

 _There must be more models._ Alex thought as he noticed more people wearing rather interesting outfits for this occasion. Some even seemed to sport renaissance style clothing.

 _Well fashion comes and goes, recycling over and over again._ He mused. Alex learned that some styles come back… usually with a slight twist. Apparently, the there was a rising trend of this "Hipster" style going on. When Alex researched a bit though, he realized it was merely a modernized Bohemian style that existed on the main continent that is resurfacing after nearly a century.

Bringing his wondering thought to a halt, he looked around the table and introduced himself to the others sharing the table.

Four other guests sat with them. Two of them, Leo Valluy and Averina Ruslana Denisovna were models. Born in France but raised in England, Leo was a rising model for the _Next Fashion_ magazine. Unlike stereotypes that people have for some models, Leo was actually a humble young man. His gentle yet confident demeanor helps make friends easily. His date Averina was apparently much different.

Averina was originally from Lithuania and moved to England at a young age when her family moved in search for a better life. While attending school, she apparently was given a chance to model and began to model in a magazine called _Teen Witch Weekly_ and later _Witch Weekly_. Apparently both were large fashion magazines, which confused Alex as he was briefed about all the known. When he inquired about it Averina looked incredulously at him.

"What do you mean? Witch Weekly is one of the greatest magazines of all time! How come you Muggles do not know about that?"

"Muggles?" Alex asked hearing that word again.

Averina opened her mouth to yell at me but no words came out. I looked at her puzzled. Sure, her lips were moving. However, I was not able to actually hear anything she said. Almost immediately Averina noticed and turned to glare at the middling aged man in red robes and a badge with DMLE on it who seemed to quickly hide something away while looking pointed at her.

"Statute?" the man asked pointedly to her.

I looked sideways towards Gabrielle and noticed her giving Averina a slight nod when Averina looked around the table.

"Statute?" Alex asked.

"Nothing actually Averina is just passionate about her work and likes to say things," Gabrielle replied while turning to me quickly.

Alex looked at her showing disbelief and the middling aged man leaned forward to Alex.

"Nothing much to worry about actually," he stated as he reached out his hand toward Alex who shook it. "The name is Rory Proudfoot."

"Alex Lee, a pleasure," Alex replied. "Still, the Statute interests me. Seems like something that might be important."

Rory shifted a bit uncomfortably and answered back.

"Ah, yes. The Statute is called the Statute of secrecy."

"Mr. Proudfoot!" Gabrielle hissed, but Rory continued on.

"You see, we try to keep some things in the down low from many include those in your position," he answered slowly.

"So, you have people like me," he points to his badge. "Who helps enforce the secrecy to be upheld by reminding others about it, should they breach the secrecy."

"Alright. What of the initials?" Alex inquired pointing at the badge.

"Can't really say what the first is, but the latter is supposed to be Law Enforcement."

"Like a police officer?"

Rory thought for a moment before replying. "Like a law enforcer."

"And Muggles?"

"Part of the reason for the Statute," Rory replied immediately. "Considering it a trade secret. As a businessman I am sure you understand."

Feeling that there was something more going on than what was being said, but not able to get more information out, Alex simply nodded and slowly began to put on his business façade as Gabrielle tried to make light talk with the last member who was an elderly lady who apparently was a retired executive from the company. From the way Gabrielle reacted, he has some suspicion that she knew what was going on and decided to ask her later.

As dinner was served Alex continued to join in on the conversations while quietly observing his surroundings particularly those at his table. Despite the suspicious moment, Alex was still able to enjoy the company of his party the rest of the dinner.

Eventually the evening event came and with a few announcements and speeches from various hosts, sponsors, and special guests a string quartet walked to the stage and began to play some music. Soon a few members of the party began to drift onto the dance floor and started waltzing to the music. As the first song came to an end, Alex caught Gabrielle's attention as he slowly got up from his seat.

"May I ask you for a dance?" he asked.

"Of course," Gabrielle replied beaming at him. Suddenly Alex held his breath, momentarily stunned as he basked in her radiating smile.

"Umm, Alex?" Gabrielle called out bringing him back to reality.

He blinked his eyes and realized that he was staring at her. He looked around for a moment and realized that others had grinning smiles seeing his reaction. Sheepishly, he grinned back and extended his hand for her to take and led her to the dance floor.

"Sorry about that,' he replied.

She merely smiled at him and slowly danced with him. As they started dancing for their first song Alex heard a cough behind his shoulder. As he turned, he noticed a tall striking looking man looking to be in his mid-thirties with a slicked back brown hair standing inclining his head.

"May I?" he asked.

Alex looked at Gabrielle who responded back, "The next time we pass here."

As tradition, the gentleman should have waited then as Alex and Gabrielle made their pass, but the man blocked the couple from moving forward.

"I apologize, but I must insist," the man responded once more.

"And you shall have your dance," Alex responded smoothly. "After the next pass, good sir."

The man looked at Alex disapprovingly and looked at Gabrielle once more. It was evident that he was not going to move for them and already a small crowd began to form around them as passersby noticed this confrontation.

"Perhaps we should take this some place private?" Gabrielle suggested indicating that we move to the side.

The man merely raised one of his eyebrows and did not budge. Two gentlemen, looking to be some type of bodyguard walked up behind the man, emphasizing his position and will to not budge. Alex was about to escort Gabrielle away when the man turned towards him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Clearly you are disrupting our evening and we thought it may be better to excuse ourselves," Alex replied.

"I believe that YOU are the one that is interrupting out evening, Mister Lee," he answered back coolly. "After all, you are not trying to keep her from her intended?"

"I said I rejected your proposal, Julien! And I stated that many times!" Gabrielle replied clearly upset.

"Your mother thinks otherwise," he stated causing both to look in Apolline's direction. Her face was impassive as she looked at the young couple before going back to her conversation with a gentleman next to her.

"Not to mention that it was your sister that should have been mine. Lucky for your family, they had another daughter to fulfill their end of the bargain. Besides, I have no doubt that the head of the Hermès Holdings is much better than a mere Executive Director not to mention a muggle."

Julien spat the last part out with clear disgust.

"Pardon?" Alex asked his voice dangerously low.

"Lowly creatures like you trying to fit in merely pollute our society. It would be better if your kind would just walk off."

Alex closed his eyes momentarily willing himself to be calm. He knew that Julien was purposefully baiting him and he would not give the man satisfaction. One of the things he hated was the bigoted mindset that some folks had. While they did have such mindsets, usually they were more diplomatic about it. It was rather surprising that the Julien was being crass about it.

He decided to go with another approach.

"Funny, I thought that a Monsieur Dumas currently headed Hermès International. From what I understand the Dumas family, direct descendants of the esteemed founder, are the current owners."

"Nothing but upstart Mudbloods and traitors the lot of them. All slaves dedicated to make profit for me."

At that comment low growls were heard from the spectators.

"Traitors? If they are, then please explain how would you be the heir of Hermès when they are appointed as the successors? It makes one think why does the supposed Head to the Hermès Holding not take any ownership? Unless of course the ownership is not yours?"

Julien snarled at the comment confirming to Alex that he hit a sore spot.

"You will pay for that insult, Lee."

Alex merely shrugged and looked at Gabrielle who was clearly upset.

"Shall we retire early then?"

She nodded and the two began to head out.

"I am not done with you two!" Julien snapped.

"That may be so, Monsieur," Alex retorted as the two kept walking. "However, we are."

Suddenly there was a flurry of movement from the crowd as people cried in outrage with another voice shouting over the crowd.

" _Stupefy_!"

Alex turned around and saw a red beam of light coming right at him as he looked at it in confusion.

" _Portego_!" Gabrielle cried out waving a stick that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The red beam struck what seemed to be a shield that covered him and Gabrielle and glanced off.

Suddenly, pandemonium spread as people began to run away. The two bodyguards drew out what look to be sticks as Gabrielle sent another flash of light at Julien while shouting.

" _Expelliarmus_!"

Julien dove to the side and was about to get back up when suddenly another figure, who Alex recognized as Rory, started sending burst of light at Julien.

Alex watched for a moment in fascination before he felt his hand jerking him towards the exit. Just before they left the main room, one of the tables next to them was hit by a burst of light and lit on fire.

"Come on!" Gabrielle yelled as the spot they were moments ago exploded.

The two immediately stumbled out heading outside where people were milling about. Many of them began to disappear suddenly while a few tried to get the valet's attention.

"I can't believe he is so stupid," Gabrielle muttered.

"Gabrielle?" Alex asked clearly trying to stay calm.

"Not right now. Right now, we need to get out of here," she replied. "First off, is it alright to leave the car here for the night?"

As Alex nodded, she walked towards the street to hail a cab. Alex followed after her, but keeping aware to his surroundings. He noticed a few other figures with similar robes to Roy's appearing suddenly and rushing in. One of them called out to them.

"Gabby!"

Gabrielle looked at the voice calling out to him.

"Harry!"

She rushed over to the guy and gave him a quick hug. The guy was wearing similar robes to Rory. What made him noticeable was his messy dark hair that emphasized his startling green eyes that drew you in.

"Heard of a commotion going on. Are you alright?"

She nodded.

"Hermès is in there."

Harry's eyes widened.

"Don't tell me."

She nodded causing the man to swear under his breath.

"Will talk to you later. Keep in touch?"

After Gabrielle nodded once more he rushed into the building with several other red robed figures in his wake.

Gabrielle waited a moment longer looking at the figures disappearing into the building before heading to one of the cabs waiting by the side and they took off back to Alex's place.

Gabrielle did not speak during the ride nor while going up to his place. Once they crossed the threshold, she immediately told him to turn around. Alex raised his eyes indicating for her to explain. When she did not he merely sighed and turned. He then heard her mutter a few things before telling him to turn back around.

"So, can I now ask what happened back there?" Alex asked.

"I cannot say," she began but Alex cut her off.

"Gabrielle, it looks like there are a lot of things that you cannot tell me, but there is something obviously going on here."

Alex looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Can you not tell me what happen back there? What you did? What is actually going on?"

Gabrielle merely looked down refusing to make eye contact with him.

A few moments passed and she spoke, her voice barely a whisper.

"You should not have had to learn about this."

"About what? That fiasco?"

She nodded.

"And you won't tell me what is happening?"

"I can only tell you one thing. They will make sure you do not remember this," she answered still refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Who?"

She did not reply angering Alex more.

"Who, Gabrielle?" Alex repeated.

"The DMLE."

"The wha-" he then stopped. As something things began to click. He remembered that it Rory was a supervisor for this group called the DMLE. Apparently they were Law Enforcement of some kind. Seeing the flash of lights from him and the people there and seeing various people in the same uniform as Rory.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"And this Harry, I guess he-"

"The one that I had a crush with a long time ago? Yes."

"Alright. How will they make me forget all this?"

Gabrielle answered him softly, "They will wipe your memory and possibly alter it a bit so you would not feel like you are missing anything."

"Hmm." He mused. "So, is he going to be the one to wipe my memory?"

"Probably, since he knows me," Gabrielle replied.

"Is that even possible?"

"Yes."

"How?"

She did not say.

"How, Gabrielle?" he asked again. "If what you say is true, I am not going to remember anyways."

"Remember those lights?" she asked after a few moments of pause.

"Yes," Alex replied.

"Well, some can explode. Others provide shields," she began.

"Like the one that you made?" he stated. "I take it that there is one that makes me lose my memory?"

She nodded again.

"I will never know what is actually going on?" he asked once more.

"No."

Gabrielle could tell that Alex was visibly upset. While Alex dislikes people withholding information, he will understand if it does not bother him. However, to force another person to forget was something he felt was crossing the line.

They stood in the living room in awkward silence before Alex headed to the fridge and grabbed two beers. He opened both and offered one to her. She shook her head and Alex took a seat and started to drain one of the bottles.

After finishing the first bottle he nursed the second one. By then, Gabrielle took a seat on the other side of the sofa.

"How many actually know about those light things? Cause if feels like a good number of people knew in there."

"Most of them did."

"So, what about Muggles and Statute?"

She only looked up making eye contact with him. The look on her face was all that Alex needed to know. All that apparently was connected to something secret and apparently the secret is out to people like him and now it looks like their version of enforcers are going to mitigate the damage done. Meaning that she was not at liberty to say and he would probably face a memory wipe.

"What about this Julien fellow?"

Gabrielle sighed, looking very troubled.

"I really do not want to talk about that in particular."

"Please," he begged. "Please do not keep me in the dark."

She reluctantly began to explain about the whole situation. Apparently a few years ago, the Hermès family partnered with the Delacours a long time ago. With a successful partnership the two families joked about sealing the business alliance with marriage. The Dumas controlled the business end of the fashion but there was another person who headed the entire family and all business operations of the Hermès Holdings. That person was the Head of House of Hermès and that person was currently Julien. While the former Head of Hermès Holdings stated it was not necessary, the current Head demanded to wed to one of the girls stating he desired such a girl with their particular background. While the remaining Hermès family members protested about such behavior their new Head of House behaved, the Delacours considered the option to keep the business deal.

Before the arrangements could be made, Gabrielle's sister, Fleur, fell in love with another man and married him and bore him a child. This effectively laid the responsibility to Gabrielle should the arrangements continue. However, the Delacours were reluctant to have their youngest marry him and had been stalling as long as they could. However, with time running out, they had discussed with her that Fall that they may have to take Julien's offer for her hand.

They eventually managed to talk a bit longer before both heading to bed just after midnight. Gabrielle took one of the guest rooms. Right before she closed her door Alex called out to her.

"Good night, Gabrielle," Alex said with sincerity. "And thank you."

Without answering or even saying as much as a good night, she closed her door. Alex sighed and closed his own door and got ready for bed.

That night was the most restless night for Alex. On one hand, he had Gabrielle back. On the other, there are most questions and barriers that he is facing while trying to reach out to her. Also, while he did not want to be have his memories wiped, he decided that he could possibly reason with them to avoid the memory loss.

The next morning he woke up to the bedside phone ringing. He checked the time, it was not even four in the morning. With a grunt he pulled himself over to the phone and answered it.

"Alex, speaking."

"Sir, you have guests waiting for you downstairs," his assistant, Katarina, replied.

Alex noted her formal voice calling through the phone hinting to him that this was very important.

"Do you know who it is?" he asked.

"Madame Delacour and Monsieur Harry Potter along with a few more guests."

"Don't tell me you are in the office, it is still too early."

"Madame Delacour called me in."

Alex froze a moment at that.

"I will be there soon."

"Very well. Please come in from the front, sir."

"Will do."

 _Well I guess they did not waste their time with this._ He thought as he got out and got ready. _Maybe I can convince them to not memory wipe me._

He decided to take the elevator down instead and walk through reception area to the front. He approached Kat and noticed her looking tired and clearly not dressed for work. Despite that, she was dutifully at her station.

"Any ideas?" he asked.

"Only that I needed to walk in with you," she stated getting up from her seat and walking next to him.

Alex took a deep breath for a moment and gave Kat a nod.

"Well here we go," he muttered and opened the door to his office.

"Greetings," Alex called out as he walked through the door.

" _Obliviate_!"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Hope you enjoyed this chapter and sorry again for the late post. Thank you again for your patience though!


	6. Intermission

**AUTHOR'S NOTE?:** **INTERMISSION (9-22-2016)**

A young Asian man looks around in the void as fog envelopes him preventing him from seeing anything.

"Hello?" he asks tentatively.

"Who are you?" I ask walking out from the fog towards him startling him a bit.

"I… I cannot remember," he replied looking very confused.

"Ah… Memory loss?"

The young man shrugged, "I'm not sure… I guess?"

I frown a bit realizing the situation.

"I do not think that was supposed to happen… I think…"

"What do you mean by that? Who are you?"

"Me?" I reply. "Well… I am Kal Kir. Pleasure to meet you. As for the memory loss, it was not actually planned. However, when I thought about it as time went by I thought it was a brilliant thing."

"Brilliant?"

"Well… at first it was," I stated. "All I remember is if I made this guy lose his memory, then I would create some suspense. What will happen to you? You, the main character getting your mind wiped! It is like a clean slate! I can start where ever I want to!"

"How does that benefit me?" he shouted.

I pondered for a moment on that.

"At the moment, probably not much. I mean you did have a pretty decent life with an awesome job and a pretty hot babe."

"What?" he asked looking dumbfounded. "What happened then? Did I hit my head and lost my memory or something?"

I chuckle at him, "Let's go with the 'or something.'"

"So… What is going on? I don't feel like I am missing something."

"Oh, you definitely are!" I answered. "In fact, you should currently be… Hm…"

I stood there for a moment thinking for a bit leaving an awkward silence between the two of us.

"Yes?" he pressed.

"I cannot really remember. I think you were supposed to be doing something else for a while… but I only remember that I kept changing things up a bit. I just do not remember what I was planning on actually doing."

He looked at me, disbelief in his eyes.

"Wait a moment," he said as he rubbed his brow. "You mean to say that you did not continue on with the story yet and kept changing what is going to happen to me?"

"Um… yes?" I replied.

"Why can't you just write something and just post it so that I can at least live my life?" He shouted. "Is it that hard to say that I get my memory back and finally live happily ever after?"

"Actually, that is supposed to be more to the end not in this coming chapter," I replied in all seriousness. "Worst case, end of this chapter."

"Worst case?" he spluttered.

"Yes!" I replied brightly. "I am just stuck with what you are doing after chapter 5."

"You can't me serious!" he cried.

"No," I replied. "I am not Sirius. In fact, Sirius died a few years back in your timeline."

"Who?"

"Sirius Black? The mass murderer? Godfather of the… right… American and Asian to boot. Never mind," I waved a dismissive hand at him to disregard that.

"So, back to the topic. When will I be getting my life back?" he asked.

"When I can get back to it with a solid idea of where you will be." I answered. "Also, when I stopped being absorbed into other people's FanFics as well."

"Wait… so you abandoned me for other people's works?"

"Whoa there! No I did not! And abandon is a strong word." I denied vehemently. "No! I cannot think about it so I have been rereading a few which I have enjoyed before."

"Which ones?" he asked.

"Well four actually," I answered. "Mainly stories from HERMIT532, The Harem War by Radaslab, and Metamorphose by salus gem."

"But those are like 250k+ stories each! That would take you forever!"

"Yes. However, if I cannot decide what to do with you specifically, then why bother to write something and ruin it?" I ask.

"I guess you have a point there," he grumbled. "So, you at least have an idea?"

"I know that you will either be in Glasgow or Edinburgh. As to what you will be doing there, I am still trying to work on. The last one did not work out to well."

"What was the last one?"

"Well, you were working at a retail clothing store and you had to finish filling out some orders of school uniforms."

"That does not sound too bad."

"The entire wardrobe for several schools with an understaffed team."

He glared at me and I raised my hand trying to show him I mean no harm.

"Hey, bright side is I am trying to scrap that and make it a bit more interesting than that. The story will eventually go the way it is supposed to go," I stated.

He sighed looking a bit defeated as he looked away from me and looked at the foggy background. After a few moments of silence and him thinking for a moment he turned to me once more.

"When will the next update be then?"

"I will be frank," I replied. "I will set it as a 'To Be Determined' for now. I will definitely have it up and posted. I just need to finalize and actually decide what happens to you. So far, all the choices and how the drafts came out were very unsatisfactory. I aim to try and improve that."

He nods in understanding.

"Well, you better get on with the story soon. And try not to be too immersed with the other FanFics. I really do not mind if there are not many who are interested in my story, I personally would like my story to be finished soon. Also, I think the ones who are following this story would be interested to know what is actually going on."

"I promise to do so."

"Thanks, Kal Kir."

"No worries."

We both stood around for a moment in awkward silence.

"By the way," he started. "You did not remember my name did you?"

I shifted uncomfortably a bit, "Oh, look! I better get going!"

I rush off into the fog leaving him behind.

"Hey! Get back here!"

He watched as I disappeared and with a sigh looked around once more to see what he could do to pass the time until Kal Kir starts getting things on the move.


End file.
